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INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 



INTERVENTION IN 
MEXICO 

SAMUEL GUY INMAN 



Foreivord by Profesior William R. Shepherd 




ASSOCIATION PRESS 

New York: 347 Madison Avenue 
1919 



Copyright, 1919, By 
Samuel Guy Inman 



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AUG 26 !9I9 

©C;.A529654 
Recorded 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Foreword vii 

I. Various Aspects of the Problem ... i 

11. Is the Present Disturbance in Mexico 

a Real Revolution? 43 

III. What Kind of a Man Is Carranza? . 80 

IV. What Mexicans Think of Americans . 117 

V. The Present Situation in Mexico ... 162 

VI. Future Relations between Mexico and 

the United States 204 

Appendix 244 



FOREWORD • ' 

A professor is sometimes defined as a person who 
thinks otherwise. Not many years ago an emin- 
ent American statesman who was once a professor 
bade the people of Mexico Godspeed in gaining for 
and by themselves true political freedom, and 
pledged himself that, so far as he could prevent it, 
no one should interfere with them. Has the situa- 
tion of our southern neighbor changed so mate- 
rially since then, or are we thinking otherwise? 

There was a time in our history when civil war 
nearly rent the nation asunder. Luckily, we had 
all of our political troubles that had to be settled 
by fighting packed into four years. In this respect 
the only difference between Mexico and ourselves 
is that the fighting has been spread over most of a 
century. When the struggle was on in our own 
case we called it a war and made it conform some- 
what to the Sherman definition. So have the 
Mexicans, only more so. 

Happily for us, in our great civil convulsion the 
foreigners who lost their lives or property because 
of the destruction that accompanies warfare were 
few. Unhappily for Mexico, the number of such 
foreigners is considerable. For European states 
whose citizens had suffered in our conflict through 
no fault of their own, indemnity could be secured 



vlii INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

by peaceful processes. None of them ever thought 
of declaring war upon us as a means of gaining 
redress. For one thing, the United States was 
strong enough to resist. For another thing, it was 
and is a country different from Mexico. 

In the world at large, Mexico is recognized as an 
independent sovereign nation. Whatever the 
complaints raised up against it because of the mis- 
conduct or misfortune of its rulers and people, the 
fact remains that it is not a colonial region in- 
habited by an altogether backward folk in sore 
need of correction. That may be the popular view 
taken by the outsider, but it is not the official one. 
It is quite true, however, that the attitude of our 
Government toward Mexico during the last eight 
years of disorder and turmoil would seem to indi- 
cate that the country is neither an independent 
sovereign nation nor yet — on the order of certain 
of its smaller sisters in and around the Caribbean 
Sea — a ward of the United States. No, it is some 
anomalous thing that lies in between. 

Does Mexico belong in the category of a real 
foreign nation, and is it to be treated as such, or 
does it in fact come within the "domestic policy" of 
the United States and hence form part of our 
Caribbean household? To interfere or not to 
interfere, that has been the question — answered 
usually in the affirmative! Is it to be succeeded 
by "to intervene or not to intervene?" 



FOREWORD ix 

Now, if Mexico is an independent sovereign 
state, it has an absolute right to adopt a constitu- 
tion whenever it pleases, and to do so in its own 
way. That its way is not ours does not alter the 
right in the matter. Even if the new constitution 
does set aside laws, statutory or constitutional, and 
replace them by others that may violate privileges 
of private ownership conferred by such pre- 
existent laws, even if the procedure under them is 
held to be confiscatory by the persons and govern- 
ments adversely affected, the Mexican people, 
nevertheless, are quite at liberty, should they so 
choose, and in their own fashion, to incur all the 
international risks that action of the sort may 
bring forth ; but they can not be denied the right 
to change their laws as they see fit. War may be 
made upon them in consequence; they may be 
conquered and their country may be annexed or 
converted into a protectorate. In that case they 
would suffer the fate that many a weak nation has 
undergone at the hands of a strong one. But if 
Mexico has lost the quality and distinction of being 
an independent sovereign nation, or perhaps in 
reality has never had them, and all along has been 
subject to the operation of our "domestic policy," 
"intervention" doubtless is technically more or less 
of a suitable expression to use, though conquest is 
what would take place. 



X INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

And why should we "intervene"? Chiefly be- 
cause certain vested interests, American and 
European, do not wish to obey the existing Mexi- 
can constitution, which apparently seeks to 
nationalize the properties concerned. Formerly 
the holders of those interests paid taxes; now they 
are asked to pay royalties or rentals. The one 
means that they were the owners of the property; 
the other, that the state owns it. Admitting that, 
if actually carried into effect, a procedure of that 
kind on the part of the Mexican Government 
would amount to confiscation, does that justify us 
in conquering Mexico, with all the expenditure of 
blood and treasure which war involves? 

The cry is raised that hundreds of American and 
European men, women, and children have been 
murdered or outraged by Mexicans in a country 
that is slowly recovering from the disasters of a 
terrible civil war. Will the loss of thousands of 
lives of American soldiers atone for them? 

With a fine disregard for the plea that Mexico 
may cherish grievances against the United States 
on its own account for a variety of acts of inter- 
ference in recent years, and with no effort to 
ascertain what the real sentiments of the Mexican 
leaders and people have been toward the war in 
Europe, it is asserted that Mexico has been 
"pro-German," and hence must be punished. Is 
there not just a possibility that the Mexicans and 



FOREWORD xi 

their Government have been "pro-Mexican" in- 
stead? Is there a faint chance to believe that the 
present administration of the country is not the 
choice of its people so much as the will of the 
Government of the United States? 

We shall be told that "intervention" will be a 
good thing for the Mexicans. They will bless us 
for it later, just as Cubans, Dominicans, Haitians, 
Nicaraguans, and Panamanians presumably have 
done. Perhaps. 

Let us not assume that the task, if undertaken, 
would be an easy one. What we have been doing 
in the little republics in and around the Caribbean 
is no criterion for what we would have to do in a 
huge country like Mexico, among a population 
seven-eighths of which is Indian and half caste. 
Let us not imagine, also, that the nature of the 
work would be free from more than the usual 
horrors that beset even the most justifiable of wars. 
"Intervention" in Mexico would be nothing other 
than the entry of an army of invasion. History 
tells us what that signifies for both invaded and 
invader. Worse still, the fighting could not fail to 
become essentially a conflict of race and color. 
We know only too well what that means. 

Is there no way out? Mr. Inman, who knows 
Mexicans and yet remains an American, thinks 
that he has found it. Hear him ! 

William R. Shepherd. 



CHAPTER I 

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 

Mexico is again occupying the front page of the 
newspapers. England, France, and the United 
States have organized an international committee 
of bankers to study the Mexican question ; various 
oil interests have formed the National Association 
for the Protection of American Rights in Mexico ; 
Congressmen are demanding reports and closer 
vigilance from the State Department in reference 
to Mexico; the Council on Foreign Relations 
appoints a committee of distinguished citizens to 
hear reports from any one who has ideas on the 
subject; a capitalist appropriates $100,000 for 
assisting a group of university professors to investi- 
gate Mexican social and educational matters. 
These and various other things indicate the interest 
of the United States, as well as our ignorance on 
the question. 

Newspapers only add to our confusion. Des- 
patches assure us that Villa is about to make a 
formidable attack on the Texas border and that 
the Constitutionalists have complete control of 
the country; that Carranza intends to carry out 
his promise of an amicable adjustment with the 



2 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

foreign property owners, and that a decree has 
been promulgated at Mexico City ordering the 
instant payment of the royalty taxes on oil ; that 
the "Bolsheviki dominate Mexico," and that 
Carranza is in league with the I. W. W. to over- 
throw what order there is ; that the Diaz counter- 
revolt is sure to win and gain possession of the gov- 
ernment, and that Zapata and Blanquet are 
killed. 

One is reminded of the confusion of the poor 
man from China in the siege of Torreon, at the 
beginning of the Madero Revolution. The insur- 
gents attacked the city, which was held by the 
Federals. There was in the city a large Chinese 
colony, which had no idea but that the Diaz forces 
would be the victors. When the rebels had fought 
their way into the best part of the city, a Chinese, 
fleeing for his life, was challenged by a soldier 
with the regular formula, "Quien vive?'' "Viva 
Diaz" he replied. But he was face to face with a 
Madero soldier, who promptly knocked him down 
with the butt of his rifle. Getting up again, the 
poor Chinese was running with all his might, 
when he was accosted by another soldier with the 
challenge, "Quien vive?" Remembering his former 
experience, he responded, "Viva Madero!" But 
this was a belated Diaz soldier who hadn't yet 
abandoned the city, and he promptly gave the poor 
Celestial an awful blow on the head. The latter 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 3 

finally picked himself up and was limping along 
when he was challenged by a third soldier, "Quien 
vive?" But the Celestial was wise by this time and 
replied, "Tu digas primer 0" (You say first). 

This well illustrates the confusion in which most 
people find themselves in reference to the whole 
mixed, muddled Mexican question. In endeavor- 
ing to contribute something toward clearing up 
such an involved matter, which has a thousand 
ramifications that few recognize, I am fully aware 
that my judgments are fallible. What I hope to do, 
however, because I have had special opportunities 
of knowing it, is to present the Mexican side of the 
question. Most people in the United States look 
at the whole question, judge every act involved, 
in the light of its effect on this country. But we 
shall never understand or help very much to solve 
the Mexican question until we know what the 
Mexicans are thinking and doing about it. This 
is not easy. We are likely to misunderstand 
Mexico for at least five reasons: 

First, a lack of knowledge of geography and history. 
Most of us have no historic background from which 
to judge Mexico. We take it for granted either 
that Mexico has had about the same chance to 
develop as we have and was too lazy to take it, 
or that "the Mexicans are a bunch of Indians who 
have never done anything for themselves or any- 
body else, and never will." Even the judgment of 



4 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Americans living in Mexico is often marred by the 
lack of historical perspective. Many went to the 
country in the heyday of the Diaz regime, when 
material prosperity was general, and the life of 
the foreigner was easy. They did not penetrate 
below the surface and take cognizance of the 
abuses to which the Mexicans themselves were 
subjected. So they did not understand that it 
would be natural some day for the Mexican to 
seek to rid himself of political and economic serf- 
dom and to direct his own country; and that 
when such a movement finally materialized there 
would be the "devil to pay" for a period of years, 
just as there has been in all nations where his 
Satanic Majesty has forced autocracy for centu- 
ries. We fail to appreciate the terrible handicaps 
of inheritance and the combinations of conserva- 
tism that have kept Mexico back, in spite of the 
incessant struggle for liberty on the part of a 
small minority, who have displayed wonderful 
brilliancy and the devotion of martyrs. 

If the Constitution of 1857 were better known, 
there would not be nearly so much misunderstand- 
ing of the Constitution of 191 7, to which it is very 
similar. If we knew that the progressive part of 
Mexico is in the north and the conservative toward 
the south, and that the southern Indian states 
have very seldom exercised any important in- 
fluence in the country's political life, we should 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 5 

know better how to judge the value of news arti- 
cles, which seek to alarm us by stories of "Indian 
uprisings" in Campeche and Bolsheviki in Yuca- 
tan! Below I quote a statement which succeeded 
in "getting by" the keen editor of one of our lead- 
ing magazines, because the author supposedly 
knew all about Mexico, as he had traveled on mule- 
back through the Indian states of Yucatan, 
Campeche, Oaxaca, Vera Cruz, and Morelos, 
talking to many of the big Indian chiefs! Those 
who know Mexico can credit such an author with 
any honesty whatever only by supposing that 
he had touched none of the big progressive centers 
of the north, where the new democratic life of the 
country had been developing for many years. 
The article from which this statement is taken 
was translated and published in a Mexico City 
daily without comment, in order to show on what 
absolute absurdities the people of the United 
States were willing to feed: 

"Granted fully that Wilson has sought from the 
start to help Democracy in Mexico, nevertheless 
it is absolutely true today that his policy has 
utterly failed; that its sole result has been to 
continue for yet more years the crucifixion of the 
country, almost to exhaustion; that he has not 
won the confidence of the people in the least degree, 
for all his words on their behalf — for they see only 
the results; and that Mexico is falling inevitably 
toward a contest, to intervention. .. . Not a 



6 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

single hope of Woodrow Wilson's has been grati- 
fied; and only one or two incidental results: 
Huerta was driven out and Americans did not 
have to come back. Mexico is still quite a strenu- 
ous and difficult country for Americans — ^wherever 
the Carranzistas are ; elsewhere it is all right. But 
if Carranza, Alvarado, etc., have been an obstacle 
to American business men, to Mexicans they have 
been fire and sword. It is impossible to exaggerate 
interior conditions today, or the hatred of the 
common people for the Carranzistas. The people 
have security and any degree of happiness only in 
the mountains and interior districts, where they 
are protected by their own revolutionary armies of 
Diaz, Zapata, and others." World's Work, March, 
1919. 

Such a quotation immediately suggests that a 
second reason why outsiders have difficulty in 
understanding the Mexican situation is their 
ignorance of the internal political currents of Mexico. 
This is not to be wondered at. Pity the foreigner 
who tries to understand United States' politics 
today, with Wilson, the ideal of the outside 
world, at home the most criticized man since 
Lincoln! Just as in this country it is always an 
open question how much an official's act repre- 
sents himself, how much the pressure of the con- 
stituency, and how much it is an endeavor to 
secure backing for other policies, so it is in Mexico. 
The claim of some Constitutionalists that Carranza 
was not in favor of the most radical parts of the 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 7 

Queretero Constitution, and accepted them only 
because he did not think it wise to oppose the 
radicals too far, was generally denied by those in 
this country who had only the general opinion that 
Carranza was an anti-foreign bigot. It puts a 
different interpretation on the whole question when 
one hears the following from a New York attorney 
for American interests in Mexico, who says: 
"I also have the best of reasons to believe that the 
Queretero Constitution went farther than Car- 
ranza intended : that reason being that I have the 
text of the Constitution as presented to the Con- 
vention by Mr. Carranza, which text contains 
none of the extreme provisions and is in all a 
statesmanlike document.'' 

Constitutions remind one of a third difficulty 
we have in understanding Mexico — the difference 
between Anglo-Saxon and Latin psychology. The 
secretary of a community club once expressed it 
in this way: "If a young American comes in to see 
us about joining the Club, he wants to see the 
swimming pool, the gymnasium, and the night 
classes. If a Latin comes for the same purpose, 
he wants to see our Constitution." With the Latin 
the theory must be perfect, whatever the practice. 
A political constitution, to the average Latin- 
American, is an ideal toward which the country is 
to work. It is not at all embarrassing to him to 
know that the ideal is a long way from the real. 



8 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Again, certain articles are framed that they may 
be used when necessary, and only at such times. 
It is hard for the square-headed, direct Saxon to 
understand this. During President Diaz's admin- 
istration, some American missionaries began wor- 
rying for fear they were disobeying the reform 
laws by holding meetings in private homes. They 
went to the President about it. He asked if they 
had been molested. They replied in the negative. 
'Very well, then," he said, "go ahead with your 
work." If they insisted on a ruling, the strict 
interpretation of the law would be against them. 
But why worry, as long as the authorities did not 
molest them? 

In the same way when the Constitution of 191 7 
was adopted, with still more strenuous laws con- 
trolling religious activities, Carranza officials ex- 
plained to American missionaries that they should 
do their work as before. "Es cuestion de adminis- 
tracion^^ was the explanation, which meant that 
the provision was there to be invoked at any time 
when a religious organization began to meddle 
with political affairs. In fact, the general princi- 
ples of the Constitution usually become applicable 
only when Congress passes special laws defining 
the mode of their operation. There is also fre- 
quently found in Latin-America the attitude dis- 
played by one of our own politicians, in the familiar 
expression, 'What is the Constitution among 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 9 

friends?" But this thing that I am pointing out is 
not at all a lack of honesty, as the Saxon is likely 
to judge it, but simply the Latin way of looking 
at things. 

A fourth difficulty that Americans have in 
judging this subject is — the impossibility oj our 
separating the Mexican question from our own 
political and economic life. If one is Wilsonian, 
he is pretty sure to favor patience in the matter. 
If one is Rooseveltian, he condemns the revolution 
and calls for order to be restored immediately. 
An editor noted for his broadmindedness, with 
whom I recently discussed the Mexican question, 
said to me : "The trouble is that some of us don*t 
trust our President's judgment in foreign affairs, 
so we can not favor the government he supports." 
This is manifestly unfair to Mexico. If we 
Americans believe as a general principle in help- 
ing weak and baclcward nations through their 
tedious and often bloody struggles toward light 
and liberty, and are willing to give our all to favor 
such nations across the sea, then we should be 
very careful not to allow party prejudices to with- 
hold such help from a neighbor who happens to 
be so near us that she can not help figuring in our 
national affairs. It is not right to idealize the 
Armenian and the Pole, because they are too far 
away for us to see their frailties, and damn the 
Mexican because he is too near for us to see his 



10 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

good points and to sympathize with his pathetic 
struggle for democracy. 

It is doubtful if anything in Mexico itself more 
complicates the Mexican problem than the fact 
that that nation, wonderfully rich in natural 
resources, but backward in ability for self-develop- 
ment, is next door to the most powerful nation on 
earth. We are particularly interested in Mexico 
because her stability affects our pocketbooks. 
The price of meat could be kept from soaring too 
much if the great cattle ranges of northern Mexico 
could be scientifically developed. Our manufac- 
turers count on the vast resources of Mexico's 
mines. Thousands of Americans count on stable 
economic conditions for their daily bread. And 
millions of Mexicans are dependent on American 
capital for their support. Before the Revolution, 
an official of that country told me there were 
about 800,000 Mexicans dependent alone on the 
Guggenheim and allied interests — one out of every 
twenty of the population. Much has been said 
concerning the influence on the Revolution of the 
strong competition between American and Brit- 
ish oil interests. President Diaz first sought to 
develop the physical resources of Mexico by a 
lavish treatment of American investors. Later on, 
however, he became somewhat alarmed by their 
power and sought to offset it by giving privileges 
for railroad building, oil exploitations, and the 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 1 1 

like to British sjmdicates. This led to the claim, 
by some, that the Madero-Diaz struggle was 
simply a struggle between the American and 
British oil interests. While that was a superficial 
judgment, since there were fundamental moral and 
political questions involved, yet that conflict has 
had no doubt an influence on Mexican politics. 
Just now all foreign capitalists, at least the oil 
companies, have united to oppose Carranza in his 
supposed desire to attack their interests. However 
right they may be in protesting against the taking 
away of their profits by the new Government, from 
the standpoint of the Mexicans the pacification of 
the country has been deterred by their determined 
opposition to Carranza, the one leader who shows 
any ability to stabilize conditions. Carranza's 
own feeling about the matter has been expressed 
in a recent interview published in the San Antonio 
Express J as follows: 

"The bandits are kept in existence by foreign 
interests that have a purpose against the establish- 
ment of law and order through a stable govern- 
ment. The spasmodic outbursts of these outlaws 
do not form a military problem, but one created by 
various interests in the hope of bringing inter- 
vention. And it does not imperil the Government. 

Inasmuch as foreign interests have been exerting 
themselves in the interest of this or that candidate, 
and have been fomenting political unrest in Mex- 
ico, when the paramount need for the peaceful 



12 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

and progressive future of the republic is a stable 
government that will be allowed unhampered to 
work out the many and difficult problems of the 
reconstruction of the country, it is very clear that, 
for the good of Mexico and the good of the relations 
between the United States and Mexico, we must 
avoid any foreign influence already at work in 
Mexico or outside of Mexico. 

We do not want to see in our politics other peo- 
ples trying to influence the candidates, for the 
reason that such meddling is perilous to the 
friendly relations of the two peoples. We people 
of Mexico must fight our own political battles 
without foreign interference. 

It is to be regretted that there is so much mis- 
understanding in the United States regarding 
Mexico and its problems. It is to be hoped that 
the press of the United States will see us with 
clear eyes and open mind, and watch us, but not 
interfere with us. I do not mean by this that the 
press is not perfectly entitled to watch the progress 
of our elections with the same interest as we watch 
the elections in the United States. Is it not, how- 
ever, common sense to agree that a people of dif- 
ferent blood, racially apart, with man^^ differing 
characteristics due to tradition and environment, 
can not advise wisely another people? Can they 
enter intimately and with full understanding into 
Mexico's complex questions? No, I submit that 
Mexicans alone can do this." 

How far the ramifications of foreign capital have 
brought about the last factor that will be men- 
tioned as obscuring our understanding of the Mexi- 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 13 

can problem, I do not know. But probably the 
biggest single difficulty in this matter is the fact 
that the American people with rare exceptions do not 
get the truth about conditions in Mexico. Of course, 
we expect some sensations or we wouldn't buy the 
papers. The world owes certain reporters a living, 
and that accounts for other misrepresentations. 
Then, the keen agents of the various opponents of 
the Carranza Government will, once in a while, 
slip over a story on even the editor who is after 
only the news that's fit to print. But making 
allowances for all this, it is hard not to believe, 
to express it mildly, that there is a determined 
policy on the part of some of our leading American 
dailies to paint as dark a picture of chaotic condi- 
tions in Mexico as it is possible to do. 

Here is only one illustration. Two years ago, 
when the United States declared war on Germany, 
I was in Mexico City. From there I went to 
Havana, where I got my first New York papers 
and found on the first page, "Mexican Revolt — 
Report Carranza has been Overthrown — Obregon 
in Power." On that very day the papers in 
Mexico City were reporting the details of the war 
discussions in Washington, and there was absolute 
calm in the National Palace, where General 
Carranza was transacting business as serenely as 
ever. That this was not simply a slip-up is shown 
by the fact that I have a large pamphlet in which 



14 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

are printed the letters that were written to this 
paper, requesting the correction of flagrant mis- 
representations of conditions in Mexico, yet not 
a word of such correction was ever printed. One 
who will check up the number of rumors printed 
each week by the American press concerning dire 
happenings in Mexico, which a short lapse of time 
proves to be untrue, will be ready to question 
seriously what influence is directing our press. 

Much more could be said concerning the dif- 
ficulty the American people have in understanding 
the Mexican situation. In spite of these difficul- 
ties, there is a widespread demand in this country 
that the United States assume the responsibility of 
settling Mexico's complicated problems. This 
demand is becoming more and more insistent. 
Let me cite a few recent quotations from our news- 
papers and public men concerning this matter. 

The New York Globe says: 

"American intervention in Mexico can not, in the 
opinion of the best informed people, be long post- 
poned, unless it is determined that American inter- 
ests and influence in that country shall be entirely 
sacrificed. Organized Bolshevism, taking the 
form of confiscation and distribution of property 
under color of legal proceedings, is becoming the 
rule. Carranza is hostile to American and British 
interests, and while since the armistice his leaning 
toward German influence has been discontinued, 
his attitude toward Americans and English has 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 15 

not been modified. If anything, it has become 
more bitter."^ 

The New York Sun comments: 

"Just one thing emerges as certain, beyond a 
doubt, and that is that Mexican affairs are in a 
chaotic state. No one party appears strong enough 
to gain full control. No one trusts any of the 
others. It is a condition of things that threatens 
anarchy. Can we afford to allow it to continue?"^ 

Senator Porter says {New York Sun, December 
30^1^18): 

^'Whilethe War was in progress It overshadowed 
all other events to such an extent that the Ameri- 
can people are not generally informed of the high- 
handed proceedings undertaken by the Mexican 
Government in the name of constitutional revision. 
But now that the War is over we should turn our 
attention to Mexico and serve notice upon Car- 
ranza that the long line of outrages upon American 
citizens and their interests must cease. In no 
circumstances should we sit supinely and permit 
the confiscation of American property. 

Steps should be taken at once to prevent it, and 
if the Carranza Government persists in its course 
it will be brought to terms. The time has come for 
straightening out our relations with Mexico, as has 
been intimated by European investors. Matters 
cannot be permitted to drift along as they have 
been doing. We must insist upon our rights and 
secure protection for American lives and property. 

1 Quoted in New York Tribune, March 23, 1919. 



i6 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

While the American Government might stand 
passively by during the destruction of physical 
properties in revolutionary disorders, it can not be 
passive in the face of deliberate destruction of title 
to property by governmental act. Physical de- 
struction may be unavoidable, but deliberate 
annulment of title is a voluntary act of authority 
which can and must be forestalled." 

In a report of a recent dinner of the Council on 
Foreign Relations, the Vice-President of the Guar- 
anty Trust Company is quoted ^ as saying: 

"Thanks to a careful censorship, little real news 
has come out of Mexico publicly in the last two 
years, but from private sources we learn that 
conditions there have become intolerable. Ameri- 
can business institutions with large interests in that 
territory have recently been compelled to organize, 
for the purpose of calling this situation to public 
notice and, if possible, to secure some measure of 
protection from our Government. 

The distressing fact to all those sincerely inter- 
ested in the welfare of the Mexican people, and 
who would like to see the Mexican people develop 
themselves, is that Mexico has not the seed within 
herself to achieve what manifestly must be accom- 
plished before it can enjoy a free and enlightened 
government. It must seek assistance outside of 
itself to lift it out of the chaotic conditions now 
existing. 

The new Mexican Constitution, recently 
adopted, is Bolshevik in its theory and provisions. 
It decrees that the holding of property is a social 

2 The World Tomorrow ^ March, 1919. 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 17 

function, and provides for the bald confiscation of 
property rights, as Americans and all civilized 
governments understand such rights." 

The informant of the New York Times,^ was 
positive in his assertion that President would soon 
deal with the matter in a special message to 
Congress and that intervention in Mexico would 
probably be recommended. The statement was 
added that in dealing with the Mexican situation 
from this time the United States Government 
would act not for itself alone, but also for Great 
Britain and France. 

**A canvass of the situation seems to indicate 
that American intervention in Mexico, not for the 
purpose of interfering with the sovereign right of 
Mexicans to govern themselves, but to protect the 
lives and rights of foreigners in Mexico, and to 
restore law and order, may be only a matter of 
months, if not weeks. 

The statement was made that when the Ameri- 
can Government next intervenes in Mexico there 
would be no turning back, that the army, navy, 
and air service would cooperate, and all the 
machinery of civil government would be taken 
over, including the courts and custom houses, 
under a guardianship for the benefit of all for- 
eigners, as well as to end the intolerable situation, 
which continues despite the repeated protests 
made by the State Department to the Carranza 
Government. . . . 

For months no other international question in 
which this country has been interested, not con- 



3 New York Times, July 10, 1919. 



i8 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

nected directly with the proceedings at Paris, 
has been so much in the mind of State Department 
officials and members of the diplomatic corps." 

The average North American has had too little 
contact with the outside world to realize the in- 
fluence that casual statements made in his own 
country about international relations have in 
other nations. I happened to be in Mexico City 
when some of the statements just cited about 
chaotic conditions in Mexico were repeated in 
big red headlines in the Mexico City papers the 
next morning after their utterance in New York, 
in order to show that Americans would not stop 
at the basest falsehoods to misrepresent Mexico. 
No doubt the statemients were made in a kind of 
careless way by those who thought they should 
exaggerate a bit in order to emphasize the bad 
conditions sufficiently. But in Mexico, where 
people actually are living in conditions entirely 
different, it appeared as nothing less than damna- 
ble lying for a purpose. When some reporter 
wants a "scoop," or some Congressman wants to 
please his constituency, or some after-dinner 
speaker needs to wake up his fellow-diners, Mexico, 
being a subject in which everyone is interested and 
about which few know anything, offers a fine field. 
Such needy gentlemen hardly realize in their 
innocent provincialism what far-reaching effect 
their words m.ay have. I saw recently more than 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 19 

a hundred dray-loads of old American newspapers 
being carried across the international border to 
be sold to Mexican merchants for wrapping paper. 
Quite enterprising, I thought at first. But after- 
ward my mind went to the hundreds of young 
Mexicans, who, as I know from experience, would 
get hold of these papers and spell out the headlines, 
many of which would contain insulting references 
to Mexico. I was introduced to an audience at a 
big eastern university the other day, as one capa- 
ble of speaking on Mexico, since I knew "Carranza 
and several other bandits." 

When one begins to estimate how much of this 
kind of thing reaches the sensitive Mexican, one 
can not be surprised that German propagandists 
found such fallow ground in that country. A 
Mexican now living in this country, writing to the 
New York Globe, has expressed it as follows : 

"Under the title 'The Salvation of Mexico Lies 
in Annexation to America', a New York paper 
publishes an editorial today calling attention to 
an article written by the correspondent of another 
New York paper, which purports to tell of terrible 
conditions in Mexico, and President Carranza's 
political end. 

While you Americans are sending your boys to 
the trenches to fight for democracy, for the salva- 
tion of the small peoples, so that they may have 
the fullest expression of liberty, as set forth by 
your noble President, such articles as this reprinted 



20 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

in my country as expressions of the real and un- 
masked feeling of the American people toward 
Mexico would certainly be the best medium and 
the very ideal material for some unneutral propa- 
gandist to bring to the Mexican people's mind that 
the United States is to be feared and hated. 

The editorial pictures the success of the Mexican 
States taken as a 'prize of war' in 1848, and sug- 
gests that similar action is the only solution at the 
present time to bring peace to the half of Mexico 
you 'permitted to remain Mexican', forgetting 
that your American sons are battling across the 
seas for the principles of 'democracy without 
annexations, without indemnities'. 

Having lived for several years in the United 
States, I know that the feeling for the conquest of 
Mexico, as set forth and hoped for by the writer of 
the editorial in question, does not exist. As a 
subject of Mexico, I know, too, that the feeling of 
hatred for the Americans does not exist in my 
country. But such a publication is quickly seized 
upon by propagandists hostile to the United 
States, translated into the Spanish tongue, repub- 
lished in the newspapers all over Mexico and also 
in pamphlet form, and read there, unfortunately, 
as the real expression of the sentiment of the 
people of the United States. As an anti-climax, 
these statements were given out in the United 
States as 'unfriendly propaganda'." 

Another serious aspect of this loose talk about 
Mexican intervention is its effect on all Latin- 
America. In 1 9 14 I made an extended trip to 
South America and saw the intense feeling stirred 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 21 

by our landing troops in Vera Cruz, and I was 
impressed by the general feeling of antagonism 
toward the United States. On a later visit in 1917, 
I was struck by the disappearance of prejudice 
everywhere and the desire for closer relations with 
the United States. The reasons for this change 
seemed to lie in four directions. First, of course, 
was our entrance into the World War for democ- 
racy. Following that in importance were second, 
the increased commercial relations and third, the 
exchange of students and professors. But every- 
where I was impressed with the new confidence 
in the United States that had come because, 
fourth, of our refusing to intervene in Mexico. 
My experiences corroborated fully the following 
words of W. L. Saunders, Manager of the Ingersoll- 
Rand Co., whose world-wide experience in organ- 
izing manufacturing enterprises and whose unusual 
grasp of world trade make him peculiarly capable 
of speaking on the subject. I quote rather exten- 
sively from an article by him in The Americas, 
April, 19 1 6, because it is important that we should 
understand the matter involved. He says : 

"A great deal has been said and written of late 
about what we should do to get an increased busi- 
ness in Central and South America. Much aca- 
demic and some practical reasoning has been 
indulged in by public speakers and magazine 
writers, societies have been formed, advertising 



22 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

has been resorted to and sundry steps taken to sell 
American products in the countries to the south 
of us. Little has been said or written about what 
seems to be the first and most important step — 
one far-reaching in its influences. I refer to the 
act of the present Administration in cultivating 
the good opinion of Latin-Americans through our 
Mexican policy. 

It is well known among those familiar with 
Central and South American conditions that the 
United States has been looked upon with jealous 
suspicion. We are so large and so powerful that 
they have feared our domination. No matter 
what state authorities may have said in public 
documents it has remained true that up to a 
recent date a large majority of intelligent Latin- 
American people have felt that the people of the 
United States, with a singleness of purpose in 
chasing the mighty dollar, were anxious so to en- 
circle the little countries to the south of us that we 
might use their resources to fatten our purses. 
They have looked upon us as eminently a practical 
people and in that respect as differing from the 
old Castilian idea of chivalry and honor. We 
know that they are mistaken in this, and that the 
ethical code of the American business man is equal 
to that of any other in the world, but our visits to 
Latin-America and our public statements have 
had little effect. When we took Cuba they were 
certain that we expected to retain and milk it, 
and when we gave it back to the Cuban people 
they were surprised and mystified. When we took 
Panama and declined to pay for it they turned 
to each other and nodding their heads said: 'Ah! 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 23 

I told you so. This is the true policy of the United 
States. Let us take care that our independence is 
preserved against them*. 

When one people fear and dislike another it is 
difficult for them to cultivate either business or 
social relations. Latin-American countries were 
always glad to get United States money for invest- 
ment in their country, but other things being equal 
they preferred foreign capital. American investors 
showed no great anxiety to go into countries 
where the people were more or less hostile, so that 
except in mines and a few other special enterprises 
no investments on a large scale were practiced. 
About three years ago the policy of the United 
States in regard to Mexico began to attract the 
attention of our neighbors. They have been 
watchfully waiting, expecting us to take advantage 
of Mexican weakness and helplessness to draw the 
country under control. That we have not done 
this has puzzled them, and they are now beginning 
to look at us in a new light — a condition which 
promises to do more than anything else for the 
industrial prosperity and peace of all the Americas. 
• During the recent Pan-American Scientific 
Congress held in Washington I spent one week 
as a delegate, reading a paper on a scientific sub- 
ject, and mixing with the people. My chief aim 
was to find out what they really thought about 
us, and in expressing the sentiment of Senor 
Francisco Peynado of the Dominican Republic I 
believe that I am giving the true feeling of most 
of the delegates from these countries. Senor 
Peynado is a man of great intelligence, an eminent 
international lawyer, commended as such by John 



24 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Bassett Moore. He said to me that there never 
had been a time when the feeUng of Latin-Ameri- 
can people toward the United States was so cordial 
as at present and that this was due mainly to our 
policy in regard to Mexico. He said that they 
knew that we had Mexico in our power, that it 
was directly in line with what was generally sup- 
posed to be our ambition: namely, to get control 
of all states as far at least as the Panama Canal. 
They knew that we would have no difficulty in 
taking Mexico if we wanted to, and at first they 
thought we had some motive in postponing the 
day, but after three years they were becoming 
convinced that the United States really did not 
seek Latin- American territory; that we were 
friends and not enemies; that our cooperation 
with them in an effort to settle Mexican affairs 
showed a spirit which they had no idea that we 
possessed — one which if continued and established 
would go further than anything else to unite all 
the Americas. Words and promises could not 
be expected to go as far as actual deeds in a 
matter of such importance. That what we had 
done, and what we had left undone, was beginning 
to take root, and that it was likely to result in a 
fruitful harvest. 

What can be more important than this? It 
makes for prosperity during peace and for mutual 
protection and strength against invasion. A.ny 
other course in regard to Mexico than that which 
has been followed might have resulted in either 
retaining or intensifying the old feeling of suspicion 
among our neighbors. Posterity alone will prove 
either that the policy of the Administration toward 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 25 

Mexico has been one of Veakness* or of far-reach- 
ing wisdom and importance." 

Professor W. R. Shepherd of Columbia Uni- 
versity, after pointing out three courses of action 
for the United States in dealing with Mexico, the 
appointment of an international commission to 
find out the facts, the exercising of financial pres- 
sure, and intervention, says: 

"But if armed intervention and the setting up of 
an American protectorate be the action chosen, 
the United States, in my judgment, will forfeit 
the friendship of every country in Latin-America." 

There is another result of intervention talk 
which comes closer home to us and that is the 
divisive effect it has on our own people, at a time 
when we shall need every bit of the wisdom and 
unity we can possibly summon to solve our own 
problems. The following quotations may be as 
exaggerated as those quoted in favor of inter- 
vention. But there is no doubt that they repre- 
sent the opinion of a very large number of people 
in this country, some of whom would sooner fight 
the interventionists than fight Mexico. 

The New York Cally (March 21, 19 18), says: 

"Perhaps the most efficient machine capitalists 
ever constructed is that described by a correspon- 
dent of the World from Mexico City. Its object 
is *a deliberate, widespread, and more or less well- 



26 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

organized campaign' to 'force American interven- 
tion in Mexico*. There is one obstacle in the way 
of this, but it may be overcome with proper 
'efficiency' work. This is the fact that the great 
masses of the people here do not care two hoots in 
hades for the dollars invested in Mexico. . . 
Speakers have been hired to speak at conferences, 
congresses, and forums. Headquarters have been 
secured at Washington, and for a time a 'grape- 
vine* connection was maintained with a certain 
bureau at the United States Government. 'News' 
about Mexico and the Mexicans is supplied to 
journals in all parts of the country from time to 
time. Attacks on President Carranza are inspired 
in the newspapers, and occasional 'atrocities' are 
featured which occur only in the consciousness of 
the press agent. The next Congress has a scent of 
petroleum about it, and this is regarded as the 
last item in this efficiency campaign. After it is 
organized, orders will be given and a pretext will 
be found for waging war upon Mexicans. . . . 
In other words, the capitalists and financiers 
interested in this thing do not hesitate to kill 
thousands of Mexicans and have thousands of 
Americans killed for the sake of American dollars 
invested in Mexico. Every detail of this dirty 
enterprise has been planned and organized, accord- 
ing to this story, with the care for detail that is 
taken in organizing a corporation. The coming 
months will witness a progressive development of 
propaganda along these lines, and many of us 
may be given the glorious privilege of dying for 
the greater glory of American investors." 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 27 

The World Tomorrow, representing another class 
of people, says: (Editorial of March, 1919, 
number) 

"The time to stop a war is before it begins. Our 
war with Germany is over. . . For a while at 
least most of humanity has ceased its ghastly self- 
slaughter, and men's hearts and minds are filled 
with hopes and plans for a better and an ordered 
world. We have entered upon a breathing space 
during which, if public opinion will but steady 
itself, inform itself, and concern itself with realities 
instead of with chimeras, we may actually stop 
the next war before it begins. .The next war! 
How can there be a next war? We have just won 
the war that was to end war. The Kaiser lan- 
guishes in exile. Prussian militarism is over- 
thrown. Who, then, must we fight and what are 
we to fight about? With a full realization of the 
seriousness of what we are saying, our blunt 
answer to the first question is, Mexico, and to the 
second, American investments. 

What are the grounds upon which we base these 
assertions? The facts are not far to seek. Even 
our Military Intelligence Department could hardly 
fail to discover them. Let us marshal here a few 
of the most revealing facts for our readers' own 
interpretation and judgment." 

We have gone a long way in many matters 
concerning international relations during the last 
four years. Does the old doctrine of intervention, 
as our fathers interpreted it, still stand? Perhaps 
we had better not say, "as our fathers interpreted 



28 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

it," for our own fathers would not stand for it a 
minute, when England and Germany during our 
Civil War intimated that, in the name of humanity 
and for the protection of their property and 
citizens, they should put a stop to a bloody 
fratricidal war that was dragging out through the 
years. We have just confiscated foreign property 
by the millions by passing the Prohibition Amend- 
ment, yet no one would think that that gave a 
foreign government the right to intervene in our 
affairs. But would that be true if we were the size 
of Costa Rica? The constitutional President of 
that country is an outlaw today, and a revolution- 
ary government rules, because certain American 
interests did not like his land tax and his refusal 
to be bribed for certain concessions. 

Has the World War, our fight for the rights of 
self-determination for weak and small nations, 
changed in any way the old doctrine of inter- 
vention by a strong nation in the affairs of a weak 
nation? It is a question on which every fair- 
minded man will ponder. 

The opinion of President Carranza on the matter 
of intervention is given in a clear statement made 
by Sr. Antonio Manero, who, as the official 
representative of the Mexican President, made a 
trip through Latin - America recently, giving 
lectures, which are published in a volume called 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 29 

Mexico y la SoUdaridad Americana — La Doctrina 
Carranza. Sr. Manero says : 

"Nearly all laws, national as well as interna- 
tional, in Latin-America have a common origin — 
the effort of the stronger nations to exercise con- 
trol over the weaker ones' affairs in defense of the 
interests of their nationals, who are either immi- 
grants or investors. The problem of Latin- America 
and, in large part, that of the United States, con- 
sists in finding out how it can give entrance to all 
foreign activities and capital without placing in 
danger the peace and stability of the nation and 
without losing its national characteristics. It is 
a rare country that today does not insist that 
foreigners shall be subject to the laws of the 
country in respect to their property and civil state. 
There have been discussions concerning this in 
various international congresses, suggesting that 
the foreigner be subject to all the laws of the 
country in which he lives; but in reality such a 
doctrine has not had a constitutional basis until 
it was recently expressed in the new Mexican 
Constitution. In 19 15, when the international 
questions between Mexico and the United States 
were about to be solved, Carranza said: 'Our 
struggle will be the beginning of a universal strug- 
gle which will mark the entrance into an era of 
justice with the establishment of the principles of 
respect which great nations should have for small 
nations. All the exclusive claims and privileges 
ought to be abandoned little by little. The indi- 
vidual who goes from one nation to another ought 
to subject himself to the consequences of his own 



30 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

condition and not to have more guarantees or 
more rights than the natives of that country have. 
True justice will reign on the earth when every 
citizen, in whatever part of the planet he is, finds 
himself within his own nationality'." 

Before we ever considered a League of Nations, 
the Calvo Doctrine and the Drago Doctrine, 
named for their authors, two distinguished South 
Americans, had received favorable consideration 
by international jurists. 

The Drago Doctrine, which may be said to be 
supplementary to the Monroe Doctrine, was 
formulated, as is well known, as the result of the 
coercive action taken against Venezuela in 1902 
by a number of European powers. The cardinal 
principle of the doctrine is that public debts give 
no right to armed intervention or to a material 
occupation of American territory by a European 
power. As Oliveira Lima says, in his book on 
Pan-Americanism, proof that this doctrine or 
policy was welcomed by the world's authorities 
on international law and recognized by them as a 
principle of effective and real value in the life of 
the continent, as well as that of the world in 
general, is to be found in the fact that the theories 
formulated by Dr. Drago were accepted, with 
very slight modifications, by the International 
Peace Conference at the Hague. 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 31 

The Calvo Doctrine, called after its author, is 
referred to by John Bassett Moore as a most 
important development of international law. This 
doctrine denies the responsibility of governments 
for losses and injuries experienced by foreigners in 
times of internal disturbances or of civil war. 

Has the League of Nations helped at all to 
clear up this matter of our intervention in the 
small states to the South? 

Latin-Americans were very much in hope that 
the League would solve the problems of the 
relations between them and the United States. 
At first there was practical unanimity in favor of 
the League in every one of the southern republics. 
It seemed to offer a way out of the embarrassing 
contradiction — ^as it seemed at least to many of 
them — between Pan-Americanism and the Monroe 
Doctrine. Now Latin-America has no objection 
to the Monroe Doctrine if it means simply that 
Europe is not to meddle in American affairs. But 
they fear that it means, as they can amply demon- 
strate by extended quotations from North Ameri- 
cans that it does, that the United States retains to 
itself the right of controlling this continent. 

As President Lowell says:^ 

"According to that view Central and South 
America are a game preserve, from which poachers 



* World Peace Foundation, "League of Nations Series," Vol. II, 
No. 2. 



32 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

are excluded, but where the proprietor may hunt 
as he pleases. Naturally the proprietor is anxious 
not only to keep away the poachers but to oppose 
game laws that would interfere with his own 
sport. With their professed principles about 
protecting the integrity and independence of 
small countries, the nations that have drawn up 
the Covenant of Paris can hardly consent to a 
claim of this kind. Nor ought we to demand it. A 
suspicion that this is the real meaning of the 
Monroe Doctrine is the specter that has prevented 
the great South American states from accepting 
the doctrine. It has been the chief obstacle to 
mutual confidence and cordial relations with them, 
and the sooner it is definitely rejected the better. 
Some Americans, while professing a faith in the 
right of all peoples to independence and self- 
government, are really imperialists at heart. 
They believe in the right and manifest destiny of 
the United States to expand by overrunning its 
weaker neighbors. They appeal to a spirit of 
patriotism that sees no object, holds no ideals, and 
acknowledges no rights or duties, but the national 
welfare and aggrandizement. In the name of that 
principle Germany sinned and fell. The ideas of 
these American imperialists are less grandiose, but 
at bottom they differ little from hers. It would be 
a calamity if we should have helped to overcome 
Germany only to be conquered by her theories 
and her errors." 

The insistence of the United States that the 
League of Nations recognize the Monroe Doctrine, 
will, in my judgment, lose us the opportunity iof 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 33 

proving to Latin - America that that Doctrine 
means now only what it did originally, the exclu- 
sion of Europe from America, with the understand- 
ing which John Quincy Adams, the probable 
author, put upon it : 

"Consider the South American nations as inde- 
pendent; they themselves and no other nation 
have the right to determine their own conditions. 
We have no right to dispose of them, neither alone 
nor in combination with others. Nor has any 
other nation any right to dispose of them without 
their own consent." 

The other day when Mexico was reported as 
saying she did not accept the Monroe Doctrine, 
the comment often heard in this country was, 
"She has nothing to do with the Monroe Doctrine. 
It is impertinent for her to say anything about a 
purely American doctrine." True, if it is inter- 
preted in one way; but she, and Chile, and Colom- 
bia, and Nicaragua, and other countries and 
countless individual Latin-Americans believe — 
and we must not forget that they sustain this 
contention by quotations from our own authorities 
— that it means not "America for the Americans" 
but "America for the North Americans," giving 
the United States the privilege of dictating the 
policies of all other American countries. With 
this interpretation, Mexico has as much right to 
be interested in the Doctrine as I have in my 



34 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

neighbor's doctrine that my property is for his 
service. 

There will no doubt be a pretty universal 
disappointment among Latin-Americans because 
of the adoption of the Monroe Doctrine amend- 
ment to the League Covenant. This might 
have been mitigated if a declaration had been 
made that would have excluded the sinister 
interpretation referred to. 

The necessity of doing something to clear up 
the meaning of the Doctrine has been recognized 
by President Wilson for some time. In an address 
to the Pan-American Scientific Congress in Wash- 
ington, January 6, 191 6, he said: 

"The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed by the 
United States on her own authority. It has 
always been maintained, and always will be 
maintained, upon her own responsibility. But the 
Monroe Doctrine demanded merely that European 
governments should not attempt to extend their 
political systems to this side of the Atlantic. It 
did not disclose the use which the United States 
intended to make of her power on this side of the 
Atlantic. It was a hand held up in warning, but 
there was no promise in it of what America was 
going to do with the implied and partial protec- 
torate which she apparently was trying to set up 
on this side of the water, and I believe you will 
sustain me in the statement that it has been fears 
and suspicions on this score which have hitherto 
prevented the greater intimacy and confidence and 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 35 

trust between the Americas. The states of 
America have not been certain what the United 
States would do with her power. That doubt 
must be removed. And latterly there has been a 
very frank interchange of views between the 
authorities in Washington and those who repre- 
sented the other states of this hemisphere, an 
interchange of views charming and hopeful, 
because based upon an increasingly sure apprecia- 
tion of the spirit in which they were undertaken. 
These gentlemen have seen that, if America is to 
come into her own, into her legitimate own, in a 
world of peace and order, she must establish the 
foundations of amity, so that no one will hereafter 
doubt them." 

The following words spoken to the Mexican 
editors at the White House, June 7, 1918, give us 
a yet clearer idea of the President's thought in 
the matter: 

"Gentlemen, I have never received a group of 
men who were more welcome than you are, because 
it has been one of my distresses during the period 
of my Presidency that the Mexican people did not 
more thoroughly understand the attitude of the 
United States toward Mexico. I think I can assure 
you, and I hope you have had every evidence of 
the truth of my assurance, that that attitude is 
one of sincere friendship. And not merely the 
sort of friendship which prompts one not to do 
his neighbor any harm, but the sort of friendship 
which earnestly desires to do his neighbor ser- 
vice. . . . 



36 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Some of us, if I may say so privately, look back 
with regret upon some of the more ancient relations 
that we have had with Mexico long before our 
generation; and America, if I may so express it, 
would now feel ashamed to take advantage of a 
neighbor. So I hope that you can carry back to 
your homes something better than the assurances 
of words. You have had contact with our people. 
You know your own personal reception. You know 
how gladly we have opened to you the doors of 
every establishment that you wanted to see and 
have shown you just what we were doing, and I 
hope you have gained the right impression as to 
why we were doing it. We are doing it, gentlemen, 
so that the world may never hereafter have to fear 
the only thing that any nation has to dread, the 
unjust and selfish aggression of another nation. 
Some time ago, as you probably all know, I pro- 
posed a sort of Pan-American agreement. I had 
perceived that one of the difficulties of our rela- 
tionship with Latin-America was this: The 
famous Monroe Doctrine was adopted without 
your consent, without the consent of any of the 
Central or South American states. 

If I may express it in the terms that we so often 
use in this country, we said, We are going to be 
your big brother, whether you want us to be or 
not'. We did not ask whether it was agreeable to 
you that we should be your big brother. We said 
we were going to be. Now, that was all very well 
so far as protecting you from aggression from the 
other side of the water was concerned, but there 
was nothing in it that protected you from aggres- 
sion from us, and I have repeatedly seen the uneasy 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 37 

feeling on the part of representatives of the states 
of Central and South America that our self- 
appointed protection might be for our own benefit 
and our own interests and not for the interest of 
our neighbors. So I said, *Very well, let us make 
an arrangement by which we will give bond. Let 
us have a common guarantee, that all of us will 
sign, of political independence and territorial 
integrity. Let us agree that if any one of us, 
the United States included, violates the political 
independence or the territorial integrity of any of 
the others, all the others will jump on her'. I 
pointed out to some of the gentlemen who were 
less inclined to enter into this arrangement than 
others that that was in effect giving bonds on the 
part of the United States, that we would enter 
into an arrangement by which you would be pro- 
tected by us. . . . 

Peace can come only by trust. As long as there 
is suspicion there is going to be misunderstanding, 
and as long as there is misunderstanding there is 
going to be trouble. If you can once get a situa- 
tion of trust, then you have got a situation of 
permanent peace. Therefore, every one of us, it 
seems to me, owes it as a patriotic duty to his own 
country to plant the seeds of trust and of confi- 
dence instead of the seeds of suspicion and variety 
of interest." 

It is devoutly to be hoped that the President, 
who is the prime mover in the establishment of 
the League of Nations, has in mind some plan 
along the line suggested to the editors that can be 
put into operation very soon, in order to counteract 



38 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

the unfortunate interpretation of the Monroe 
Doctrine again made prominent by the insistence 
of the United States that special mention of the 
Doctrine should be made in the League Covenant. 
This should be done quickly. There has been 
shown in the last few months in Mexico a more 
general desire for friendship with the United 
States than I have ever known before. It is the 
most encouraging thing I found in my last trip 
to the Republic, and should be quickly turned to 
advantage. It is well summarized in the following 
article translated from El Universal^ one of the 
leading dailies of Mexico City: 

"The United States and Mexico have passed 
through large and painful difficulties, largely on 
account of the internal situation in the last-named 
nation. The United States has not been able to 
appreciate sufficiently the Mexican crisis, not 
attributing it to causes of a general order, to a just 
desire of the people to recover their liberty, but to 
a supposed desire of ambitious persons, to foreign 
intrigues, to a disorderly spirit. It is the same old 
question. Although separated by short distances, 
Saxon-America and Latin-America understand 
each other with great difficulty, because of the 
influence of their two distinct psychologies. It is 
sad to affirm, but it is strictly true, that when a 
North American statesman or functionary speaks 
of public questions in the Latin-American repub- 
lics he assumes an astute attitude, and when the 
leaders of the states of the south speak of the 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 39 

United States they take upon themselves an 
expression of jealousy. Mexico and the United 
States are found in this situation in the most 
critical form. History justifies this condition, but 
in this moment it is necessary to change, to take a 
new road toward harmony. Statesmen can not be 
poets, living eternally in paradise, or in the remem- 
brance of the beautiful old days. Governors must 
think of the future and of the happiness of the 
people whom they govern. The moment for a 
solution of this question is now, when the United 
States has placed itself at the head of the humani- 
tarian movement to create the society of nations, 
when the North American spirit denies itself all 
idea of conquest and fixes the principle that public 
and private morality ought to be ruled by the 
same laws, when Wilson goes to Europe, breaking 
every precedent of American politics followed from 
the time of Washington, in order to preach there 
the ideas of social justice applied to international 
law, which until today seemed a subject not to be 
submitted to laws of order and right. 

Between the United States and Mexico there 
are two great problems — one of frontiers, and the 
other of a civil order referring to foreign fortunes 
invested in Mexico. The first has been settled up 
to the present time with good judgment on the 
part of both. Much more difiicult do we find the 
second, which refers to the foreign interests in 
Mexico. A foreign government can not pretend 
that its citizens should have better treatment than 
the natives, nor that they should not pay propor- 
tionately their part of the taxes, nor that they 
should not obey the law. On the other hand, a 



40 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

national government can not refuse proper pro- 
tection to the lives and the interests of other 
nations, much less can it violate those interests by 
unjust and confiscatory laws. Evidently these 
general principles encounter great difficulties in 
practice, but if those governing the two countries 
are men who understand these precepts and desire 
to practice them, such difficulties will be reduced to 
a very small minimum. 

The good faith, the honor of governments will 
solve problems which legal formulas can not solve 
and never will be able to solve. If in Mexico and 
in the United States there are reciprocal preju- 
dices, it will be difficult to solve the problems aris- 
ing from their close proximity; but if, on the 
contrary, there is established a current of sympa- 
thy, all will be easy, even the gravest problem. 
The actual situation, full of resentment and 
jealousies, practically all of which are unjustified, 
is irrational. The United States and Mexico will 
do well to convince each other that, on the one 
hand, the Mexicans are a people worthy of modern 
civilization, and, on the other hand, that the 
United States does not care to conquer territory in 
Mexico. When the one has understood the first, 
and the other the second, they will both live in 
better understanding, the United States being 
satisfied to have so close to it one of the richest 
nations in the world, and the Mexicans content to 
receive the influence of the most progressive and 
just of all nations.'^ 

In this chapter I have tried simply to open up 
the whole question of our relations to a sick and 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE PROBLEM 41 

suffering neighbor. I recognize fully that the 
problem is a complicated one. I do not claim 
that my judgments are altogether correct, but I 
want to help my fellow-Americans to understand 
something of the way the Mexicans feel about it. 

Our understanding of the problem is complicated, 
I repeat, by our lack of knowledge of the history 
and geography of Mexico and of her internal politi- 
cal currents, by the difference between Anglo- 
Saxon and Latin psychology, by the difficulty of 
separating the question from our own political and 
economic life, and by the false reports which we 
get through the press. 

Notwithstanding all these difficulties in under- 
standing the subject, there is yet a wide demand 
that we undertake the settling of these questions 
by a military occupation of the country. This 
talk about intervention causes serious difficulties 
in Mexico, in all Latin-America, and in the 
United States. Since we are just emerging from a 
world war, fought for the rights of small nations, 
the question arises as to whether in the new day 
we shall still follow the old doctrine of intervention 
to protect property. Latin-Americans believe 
that foreigners should have the same protection as 
nationals, but no more. The help the League of 
Nations promised to give will probably be limited 
somewhat by the introduction of the Monroe 
Doctrine clause, which will be inclined to restore 



42 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

the old suspicions Latin-Americans had of the 
United States. President Wilson has told the 
Mexicans that he desires that all American 
nations shall have the same rights and privileges, 
and a Mexican editor, expressing feeling general 
among his people, desires a settlement of differ- 
ences between the two countries and a mutual 
friendship and respect. 

We will consider more fully in the last chapter 
some of the ways in which the United States 
might help Mexico to solve her problems. At this 
stage in our discussion let us simply make our own 
the words inscribed on the walls of the building of 
the Pan-American Union in Washington: "God 
has made us neighbors. Let justice make us 
friends." 



CHAPTER II 

IS THE PRESENT DISTURBANCE IN 
MEXICO A REAL REVOLUTION? 

I saw a cartoon the other day that represented 
beautiful Miss Liberty giving a lecture to a 
desperado, who, as he flourished a revolver, 
seemed to be trying to make out who the young 
lady was. On the brim of his large sombrero was 
written "Mexico," and he was saying "No Com- 
prendo." The disturbed conditions south of the 
Rio Grande are proving only too clearly that 
indeed he does not understand. The deep truths 
of democracy are yet beyond his ken. He has not 
learned how to accept defeat with grace, to discuss 
issues without personalities, to confide in his 
fellowman, to unite factions for the common good. 
He has not learned to go two miles with the man 
who compels him to go one; that the man who 
hears and does is the man whose house stands; 
that before the tower is built one must sit down 
and count the cost; that he who puts his hand to 
the plough must not look back; that only he who 
loses his life shall find it again. 

All this we must candidly admit. But whose 
fault is it that he does not know these things? 



44 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

His own? The Mexican learns when he has a 
chance. But collectively he has never had a 
chance. His "No Comprendo," far from being the 
flippant response of a don't-care, the subject for 
the funny column of a newspaper, is really the 
wail of a neglected soul, rent with grief and 
passion, who finds no one to explain to him the 
deep mysteries of life. 

In the first place, the Mexicans are a dislocated 
people. When Spain established herself in the 
country the respective tribes occupied a definite 
place in social evolution. They had a well organ- 
ized religion, agricultural system, and government. 
These three indispensable items of normal develop- 
ment were wholly disrupted by the Spaniards, who 
endeavored by force of arms to substitute in 
their place an exotic feudalism. The Indians were 
left without any incentive to conform to the new 
system, and kept from any sort of knowledge or 
freedom to acquire any sense of their new social 
environment. And up to this day this confusion 
of social organization exists and opposes progress. 

In the second place, the Mexicans are an 
exploited people. The land baron and the priest 
have continued their unholy alliance from the 
days of the Conquistadores till the present, 
playing alternately the one into the hands of the 
other, to keep the people in ignorance, superstition, 
and debt, so that the exploitation, both by padre 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 45 

and amOj would be sure and easy. Foreign 
capitalists, with their immense concessions, have 
usually been willing to join the system of exploita- 
tion. And the unestimated resources of the 
country, along with its people, have been made 
to pay tribute down through the years to these 
privileged classes. And yet we seem to be as- 
tounded at the "horrible atrocities, disgraceful to 
all civilization," witnessed today in Mexico, and 
cry out in the name of humanity for them to be 
stopped. It would seem, rather, that we ought to 
rejoice that the people have finally gathered 
strength enough to protest against their wrongs. 
Historically, the Mexicans are a hard-working, 
land-loving, peaceable people. 

"Current impression that they are given to 
revolt as sparks fly upward fails to realize what a 
large part hunger, homelessness, low wages, and 
lack of confidence play in men's willingness or un- 
willingness to fight. Personally, those to whom the 
republic is dear fear that they will stop fighting 
too soon — ^as soon as they are eased of their 
intolerable discomfort. When General Blanco, 
after the earlier victories, began parceling out the 
land, most of those who were fortunate to get a 
piece of it resigned from the army. Prosperity 
never made any people warlike. It only makes it 
possible, when they do fight, to go on fighting 
longer. But when any people has actually more to 
hope for from war — more things to eat, more to 
look forward to and live for — ^then revolution 



46 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

may become a habit. For a long time Mexico 
has been in that condition. Her short, sporadic 
revolts are simply the index of the desperation of 
the people and the short shift of their supplies^ 
Because they are fighting for relief they snatch up 
any leader that comes handy, Zapata, Madero, 
Villa, just as the French peasants caught up 
bill-hooks and scythes when no better weapons 
were to be had." 

In the third place, the Mexicans, as a backward 
race, are suffering from being brought into forcible 
contact with more advanced peoples. The Span- 
iards, advanced in the arts of war, with a few 
hundred men and horses and guns, so astounded 
the Aztecs that they were utterly confused and a 
few Spaniards were able to conquer and rule 
millions of Indians. The aborigines were at such a 
disadvantage that they made no endeavor to 
resist their powerful masters, but lived in practical 
serfdom. After three hundred years they were 
again brought into violent contact with another 
more advanced group, the Creole leaders, who, 
struggling for political supremacy against one 
another, compelled the poor people to fight "for 
liberty" so-called. But the only result was that 
again the peon suffered the shock of violent 
contact with a superior force, with all its evils, but 
with no one to teach him any of the real signifi- 
cance of the continuous struggle between central- 
ists and federalists, clericals and liberals, and the 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 47 

hundred other factions which compelled him 
ignorantly to fight for them from the time of 
Hidalgo down to Diaz. 

When these political struggles finally left the 
Mexican in peace under Diaz, then, still in his 
ignorance of past centuries, he was put into 
violent contact with what is probably the most 
baffling of all superior forces — ^modern capital. 
Just as the Spaniard told him he would be im- 
proved by his new contacts and made over by 
superior gods, and the caudillo insisted that the 
new doctrine of rights and liberties would give 
him the longed-for haven, so the modem capitalist 
comes to promise him a complete salvation. But 
neither his religious, his political, nor his economic 
saviour has ever stopped to teach him anything of 
the principles involved in the new advanced life 
into which he is forcibly injected. 

So the Mexican has had no man to guide him. 
Education and self-expression have been denied 
him for four hundred years since the white man 
first set foot upon his soil. Let us take a rapid 
glance at these years. The names of four men — 
Cortez, Hidalgo, Juarez, Diaz — ^with the gaps 
filled in by political oppression and revolution on 
the one hand, and the constant intrigues of the 
priests to keep the people in ignorance on the 
other — these make up Mexico's history. Cortez, 
who conquered the aborigines in 1520, was one 



48 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

of the most astute and unprincipled adventurers 
the world has ever known. Accompanying him 
were a band of priests. The natives were com- 
pelled to bow to the Spanish king and the pope 
at the same time. "Christianity, instead of ful- 
filling its mission of converting and sanctifying, 
was itself converted. Paganism was baptized. 
Christianity was paganized." The people lived 
in practical slavery for three hundred years. 
On September i6, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo raised 
the cry of revolt against this terrible oppression. 
But his love of liberty was not accompanied by a 
genius for leadership, and soon he and his fellow- 
leaders were captured and shot. Then followed a 
continuous revolution for fifty years, in which 
Mexico*s independence from Spain was gained 
only to be lost in strife between her own unprin- 
cipled leaders. 

Out of this carnage of blood and disorder 
appeared one of the greatest men ever produced 
by the Americas. Benito Juarez laid the ax at 
the very root of the tree. He saw that his country 
could never have political liberty until it had 
religious liberty. He confiscated large amounts of 
church property, separated completely church and 
state, repelled the French invasion, and was 
about to establish a series of reforms and an 
educational system for which the people had 
waited all these centuries, when he was suddenly 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 49 

cut off by death. Fresh struggles for the presi- 
dential chair finally resulted in its occupancy by 
Porfirio Diaz, who retained it from 1876 till 191 1, 
with the exception of four years. His strong hand 
forced peace and brought about marvelous mater- 
ial progress. But free speech was still repressed, 
and while a few more people learned to read, they 
must still reply in large measure to the ancient 
question, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" 
with the wail, "How can I, except some one shall 
guide me?" 

Is it any wonder, when the country was so 
suddenly changed from a despotism to a democ- 
racy by the Madero revolution, that it has been 
impossible to keep down disturbances? The 
change was needed, but it was too sudden. A 
period of trial and stress must be passed through. 
History emphasizes this to us repeatedly. Think 
of the long, dark days of the reconstruction period 
after our own Civil War. Yet we began learning 
our lessons in democracy in 1215, when King 
John granted the Magna Charta. 

If there were ever a time when we should be 
able to see the dangers of pharisaical condemna- 
tion of Mexico for her disorder, it is now. We 
have just fought a war for making the world 
safe for democracy, and won. Yet the world in 
all its history has never known such a chaotic 
condition as exists today in practically every part 



50 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

of the globe. Mexico is far quieter today, life is 
safer, food is more plentiful, business is more 
sound, the government more secure than in 
Russia, Austria, Hungary, Germany, Turkey, 
the Balkans, Syria, Korea, and other disturbed 
parts of the world. China began her revolution 
against the Manchu dynasty at about the same 
time Mexico began hers against Diaz, and took 
about the same time to overthrow the reactionary 
government. Her revolution has continued be- 
tween the northern and southern sections, just 
as Mexico's has, but, instead of quieting down as 
in Mexico, the struggle today is worse than ever. 
As with Mexico, her next-door neighbor has 
wanted to intervene. But the United States has 
continually opposed such action, insisting that 
the territorial integrity and sovereignty of China, 
with her right to work out her own problems, must 
be maintained. 

The present upset condition of the world should 
help us to recall what periods of reconstruction 
have always been. What sovereign country today 
has not had a period of civil war and reconstruc- 
tion, during which foreigners have suffered, along 
with nationals, the destruction of millions of 
dollars of property and hundreds of lives? Yet 
when fundamental wrongs existed, that stood 
squarely in the way of progress and could be 
removed only by war, then war it was, and 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 51 

foreigners had to be crucified with citizens, and 
all go down into hades that the resurrection of the 
nation might come. 

The United States arrived at a time when it 
could not exist half free, half slave. This country 
was not only on a false economic basis, but on a 
false moral basis. Slavery gave the lie to our 
constitution, as slave labor gave the death blow 
to competitive free labor. All our great resources 
have been developed, our big business created, our 
moral leadership in the world gained, since 
the slavery question was settled. The capital 
lost in that struggle, both by foreigners and 
nationals, has been regained a thousand fold, and 
the country has been put on a basis of permanent 
peace which guarantees continuous progress. But 
this could not be seen for a long time. Following 
Sherman's march to the sea, and a hundred other 
military expeditions that crushed the life out of 
the South and subjected innocent women and 
children and foreigners to unmentionable horrors, 
there came the terrible years of reconstruction. 
Liberated Negro slaves, led by white politicians, 
over-ran entire communities. Churches and 
schools were destroyed, and social life of all 
kinds was disrupted. Plunder, robbery, and rape 
were common. These conditions lasted for years 
in many communities. Gangs of train robbers 



52 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

like the James boys terrorized the unsettled West 
for more than a decade. 

A half century after our own experience, Mexico 
is repeating it. At least she has begun it, but 
things move more slowly there, and we may 
well expect it to require a good deal more time. 
By the brilliant light of the twentieth century, 
Mexico was revealed to herself as holding on to 
an old feudal system. Outside of a few hundred 
thousand privileged classes and the three to five 
million pure Indians, the whole population was 
in economic and practically legal slavery. Her 
political constitution was made a lie. Both her 
false economic foundation and her moral basis 
had to be changed. The issues involved have not 
always been clear-cut, as they were in our struggle. 
The individualistic Latin naturally follows leaders 
rather than parties. Furthermore, the original 
issue both of slavery and of constitution was 
immeasurably more complicated with the Mexican. 
But there have persisted pretty clearly all through 
the struggle these two ideals — economic freedom 
and enforcement of the constitution. Each of 
these two principles has generally been expressed 
in a twofold way, with the following four points 
most often mentioned as the principles for which 
the revolution was contending : 

I. Breaking up of great landed estates for 
benefit of common people. 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 53 

2. Readjustment of taxes. 

3. Right of suffrage. 

4. Elimination of the political power of the 
church. 

Both the economic and the moral principle in a 
broad way have now been won. No more peons 
are held for debt, nor do they work for dos reales 
diarios (two reales a day). The constitution is at 
least observed in that there are free elections in 
the greater part of Mexican territory. Mexico is 
now in the period of reconstruction. Villa is 
proving as difficult for the Mexican Government 
to catch as the James boys were for us. Raids on 
ranches and out-of-the-way towns and attacks on 
trains are almost as frequent as they were in our 
western towns in the '70's and '8o*s. But Zapata 
is gone. Blanquet is dead. Felix Diaz counts 
only in the minds of a few press agents. Carranza 
controls all state capitals at the time that this is 
written, as well as every town of over 5,000 people 
in the Republic. 

But our interest is not so much in Carranza or 
any other individual, providing we can feel that 
there has been a real social revolution in Mexico, 
and that the country is on an upgrade to a demo- 
cratic life. Even if that road does seem a long, 
hard one, requiring many years to climb, the 
people of the outside world would be willing to 
stand firm against the interventionists, if it 



54 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

could be shown that Mexico had not forfeited 
her sovereign right to settle her own affairs in the 
way most likely to bring permanent results. 
International law has always allowed civil war 
without interference, unless it is waged with 
unrestrained irresponsibility, and without any 
seeming fundamental principles at issue. As Pro- 
fessor Wells, of Clark College, says: 
• "Mexico undeniably presents the basic condi- 
tions without which a struggle should not be 
viewed as a true civil war, namely, the existence 
of issues which are of vital concern to the people; 
and the abuses which give rise to them, have been 
so tyrannical as to justify a revolution in the 
government, and, if necessary to that end, a 
violent purging of the nation. The revolt on these 
issues is under the guidance of leaders, civil and 
military, representing nearly all grades of society 
and many walks of life. They include men of 
character, who typify the most substantial prod- 
ucts of Mexican civilization."^ 

Let us look at a few of the changes that have 
been wrought already by the Revolution. They 
may be seen in politics, in economic and social 
conditions, and in educational matters. 

The jefe politico was one of the most despicable 
individuals in the Diaz regime. He had no standing 



1 Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, 
Vol. 54- 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 55 

in the constitution, but practically he was the most 
important official in any district. Diaz practically 
appointed the governors of the different states, 
and the governors appointed these political bosses 
for the various districts. They represented both 
the President and the Governor, and were more 
powerful than any regular elective official. Army 
officers, legislators, presidents of municipalities, 
collectors of customs, and practically all the 
people in the district were subject to these jefes. 
Sometimes these men were appointed after they 
had gained great power and understood the 
machine well. Other times they were sent to out- 
of-the way districts because they had strong per- 
sonalities and would be able to "nip in the bud" 
any political disturbances. So long as they did 
this, their methods were not likely to be questioned. 
In one of the communities where I lived the 
most prominent gentleman of the town, who 
owned the most real estate and who controlled 
hundreds of thousands of acres of farming land, 
was called "Colonel." After several years* resi- 
dence I learned how this title came to him. He 
was sent to this center some twenty years before 
as jefe politico. He organized a band of ruffians 
who would ride over the country and collect herds 
of sheep and cattle for him. If the owner of a 
little herd of cattle saw them being driven away, 
and demanded, 'Who told you to drive these 



56 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

cattle off?" The reply would be, "The Colonel." 
If the owner were audacious enough to go into the 
city and present himself before the authorities to 
demand that this gang be punished, before whom 
would he appear? Why, the Colonel. If he 
insisted on demanding his rights, he would be 
thrown into jail and kept there until he recognized 
the Colonel's supremacy. Thus the jefe politico 
not only got his title "The Colonel" but amassed 
an immense fortune. 

When the revolutionists, many of them the 
very same men who had been robbed by the 
Colonel, ten, twenty, or thirty years before, went 
into his beautiful home in the city after he had 
abandoned it and requisitioned a few desks and 
beds for their headquarters, their acts were 
telegraphed all over the United States to show the 
barbarity of the revolutionists. 

In the later days another type of political 
boss was developed, represented by a gentleman 
whom I knew very well. He held court in his own 
office. Every official in the community paid him 
so much to hold his job. He controlled the licenses 
for the saloons and the red light district, he levied 
heavy taxes on all kind of vice, he sold gambling 
privileges for the public plaza at certain seasons 
when excursions were run from different parts of 
Mexico and the United States to witness the wide 
open town, and in various ways he collected an 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 57 

income of two or three thousand Mexican dollars 
a month. Whenever he went out he was accom- 
panied by a few strongly armed men, to protect 
him against the not infrequent assaults of the 
people who suffered from his oppression. Those 
who dared make any resistance whatever were 
summarily disposed of. The saddest part of his 
whole dictatorship was the fact that he commanded 
the bodies of young women whom he would send 
for, especially those of the lower classes. It seems 
incredible that such a man could wield continued 
power in the latter years of the Diaz regime. It is 
useless to cite more examples of this kind, though 
they could be found in all parts of Mexico. 

We have often been told of the abuses of the 
peon on the great haciendas. These immense 
holdings had either come down to their owners 
from colonial times, or had been given to them for 
some political service, or had been taken from the 
Indians who held and worked them as common 
tribal possessions. When one of these estates was 
sold, one bought not only the land and the houses 
but practically the peons also, for these latter 
were always kept in debt. The law said that as 
long as they were in debt they could not leave 
their employers. If they ran away they might be 
hunted and brought back. Their wages, of course, 
were so low that they could never pay their 
debts. 



58 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

I remember talking with one of these poor 
fellows who was on the rear platform of a passenger 
train stealing a ride. I asked him how much he 
got a day. "Dos reales diarios (twelve and a half 
cents, American, per day)" he replied. "Have you 
a family?'' "Yes, a wife and twelve children." 
"Are you married?" (This is not an uncommon 
question at all to ask a Mexican peon, who very 
often is not able to have the costly ceremony 
performed by the church and does not believe in 
the value of a civil ceremony.) "Yes," he replied. 
'Were you married by the State or by the church?" 
"Oh, by the church, Senor." "How much did you 
pay the priest for the ceremony?" "Doce pesos'^ 
(six dollars, American). Naturally such a man 
never had any idea of bettering his condition. It is 
not likely that he ever thought of its possibility. 

The peon is far from being the pugnacious 
fellow most people think him. He Is the most 
submissive, passive, patient individual you would 
meet anywhere. If we had to wait for the uprising 
of these peon classes of the lowest order, we would 
wait a long time indeed. The Revolution was 
started not by them but by the few thousands in 
the gradually developing middle class, aided at 
times by people who had been associated with 
the Government but for various reasons had lost 
their places, or by young men, sons of the govern- 
ing classes, who had gone to foreign countries 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 59 

and seen how far Mexico was behind the rest of 
the civilized world in the matter of self-govern- 
ment. 

The matter referred to above — namely, the 
taking of young women by officials in the Diaz 
regime — ^was altogether too common. A young 
girl whom I knew very well, the only daughter of a 
widow living near us, was one day called out to 
the high-power automobile of the general of the 
local garrison, compelled to get in, and driven 
to the generaFs headquarters. She was kept in 
captivity ten days. The poor mother madly 
besought her release, as did those friends who were 
brave enough, and she secured it only after she 
had lain on her face at the door, imploring so 
piteously that the general dared not face the 
publicity of his beastly act any longer. 

This is one thing that Carranza and his close 
associates have gone after in the most vigorous 
way. Of course, there has been raping at times 
by his soldiers, but I have known personally of 
his ordering executions because of this. Carranza 
respects womanhood and his whole movement 
has stood for a new place for women. The young 
women who are school teachers and the few others 
who are in business have come to receive new 
respect, and the old feeling that any woman 
who is unaccompanied is prey for a foul male is 
opposed with all Carranza's power. Mexican 



6o INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

men have too long preyed upon their women- 
kind for it to be true that it has disappeared, 
but the old assumption that an official could com- 
mand any woman of the humble class that he 
wanted without fear of reproval from his superiors 
has certainly been swept away. 

I recently asked a young Pullman conductor 
if he thought there had been a real revolution in 
his country or if the disturbance were simply 
the matter of "the outs wanting in." With the 
quickness of thought typical even of the less 
educated Mexican, he replied promptly that 
there has been a real revolution, that has brought 
about changes along at least these five lines : 

1. Free elections. While there are still some 
abuses, yet in a large number of cities and states 
elections are held with absolute freedom to vote 
for any candidate one pleased. Twenty of the 
twenty-seven states now have civilian governors, 
elected by the people. 

2. Liberation of the peons. These have been 
released from their slavery because of debt, 
mainly by an increase in wages. Day laborers 
both in the city and the country are getting three 
or four times what they got before the Revolution. 

3. Improved condition of the skilled laborer. 
In the old days threatened strikes were immediate- 
ly suppressed by the military. Workmen had 
no way of demanding more pay or shorter hours. 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 6i 

Now, however, many trade unions are being 
organized and labor is allowed by means of 
strikes and in other ways to demand better treat- 
ment. This is explicitly provided for in the Con- 
stitution of 1 91 7. Higher wages, shorter hours, 
accident insurance, improved sanitation, and other 
advantages are being gradually secured, as the men 
show their ability to stand together. The alliance 
recently formed with the American Federation of 
Labor is proving of great help to Mexican labor. 

4. Reform in the Church. The priests used 
to exert too much power in politics and controlled 
too much property. The Revolution has been 
directed against the temporal power of the 
Church and its influence toward reaction, and in 
certain places the Revolution has gone to the 
extreme in its opposition. But the Church has 
learned a necessary lesson and is now being 
allowed to function freely in spiritual matters. 

5. The use of a larger element in government 
service. In the old days the Government was 
confined to a few intellectuals. Now many men 
from all walks of life are called to fill the offices. 
Even many of the old Diaz regime, who have long 
been expatriated, are now returning and some of 
them are being used in the Government. 

In connect^'on with this last point it is interesting 
to note the composition of the last National 
Congress, according to professions, which was as 



62 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

follows: Ten lawyers, twelve doctors of medicine, 
ten civil engineers, eighteen professors of public 
instruction, ten newspaper writers, two historians, 
seven railroad men, fifteen export office men, 
fourteen members of the Army, three industrial- 
ists, sixteen merchants, fourteen workingmen, 
and nine agriculturists. The remainder are men 
who are not specialists in any of the branches 
mentioned, but are engaged in various activities 
in banking, commerce, and industry, £ind as 
members of university faculties. 

In pointing out the facts that show there has 
been a real social revolution in Mexico, no one, of 
course, can fail to recognize the many abuses 
practiced at the present time by Mexican officials, 
the badly run-down condition of the country 
after these years of terrible civil war, the need of 
money for rehabilitation of railroads and public 
utilities and for education, and the many problems 
on every hand that yet remain to be solved. 

The principal abuses which the Government 
must clear up before it can expect the full con- 
fidence of the outside world are: first, the over- 
riding of civilian rights by the Army; second, 
graft; and third, banditry. 

The recent improvement in regard to each of 
these abuses gives ground for hope that they will 
gradually disappear. Great gains have been made 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 63 

in overcoming the first and the last, but graft is 
still very widespread. 

A real social revolution, which, while it over- 
turns in the present, is laying deep foundations 
for the future, must have in it a large element of 
youth. The outstanding thing about the present 
revolution in Mexico is the fact that it is carried 
on by young men. President Diaz was surrounded 
by men mostly over sixty. He once expressed 
great surprise that such a young man as a certain 
gentleman who was forty-five could think of 
becoming Governor of his state. The opposite is 
true of Carranza. Seldom do you find an official 
who is not a young man, and most of them are 
very young. 

Boys whom one knew in school only a few years 
ago one now finds as councilmen, mayors, secre- 
taries, governors of states, and even ministers to 
foreign countries. They are often, very often, 
without experience. Still, they are forward- 
looking fellows, and a majority are free from the 
old hardened politician's scheming and graft. 
Very noticeably are they coming to the front in 
the field of education. 

Many of them have studied either in American 
schools in Mexico or in the United States. The 
Director of the National Preparatory School is a 
young man of twenty-eight, a graduate of Wash- 
ington and Jefferson College. The principal 



64 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

advisor to the National Government in educational 
affairs is a young man who has spent eight years 
in Columbia University, last year married a 
New York girl, and is now giving his services to 
the Government. If there were time I could run 
through the list of educational authorities in 
Mexico, from Monterrey on down through the 
different states, and show that these leaders are 
largely young men who understand our educational 
system and who know the real heart of the Amer- 
ican people. 

Let us look at a few of these young fellows. 
Not long ago I went into the central office of the 
primary schools of Mexico City. The councilman 
who, as Secretary of the Municipal Committee 
on Education, was the head of this office was a 
young fellow that looked to be hardly out of his 
teens. He showed me through the various offices 
and explained the work, including an up-to-date 
card system he had put in to show various facts 
about each of the 2,000 teachers under him — 
the time work was begun, amount of salary, grade 
of work done, and other details. When I saw how 
the teachers listened to his judgment and how the 
office force respected him, I looked again for some 
appearance of age. No, he is just twenty-four 
years old. But, with Latin brilliancy and early 
maturity, he is giving the enthusiasm of his youth 
to this complicated work. By the records he shows 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 65 

that there are now more students In the primary 
schools in Mexico City than there were in the 
days of Diaz. He then turns to tell me of his 
struggle against the Pan-Latin campaign of 
Manuel Ugarte, who came to Mexico when this 
young man was president of the Mexican Student 
Association, to appeal to the students to join with 
all other Latin-American students in a league 
against the influence of the United States. The 
struggle was a memorable one, ending in the 
triumph of Pan-American sentiment over Pan- 
Latinism among the Mexican students. The 
greatest ambition of this young man now is to go 
to the United States for several years' study. 
There is nothing that we could do that would be 
more helpful in Mexico's development and in the 
promotion of friendship between the two countries 
than to create scholarships to bring such students 
to the United States. 

The present Governor of the State of Coahuila 
is one of the most interesting of the group of 
young men who are now causing their influence 
to be felt in Mexico. One can hardly believe that 
such a young man as Sr. Mireles could be entrusted 
with the governorship of a state and yet, as you 
look into his official work, you are convinced that 
he is fully capable of carrying the job. His great 
passion is education. Coahuila has for many 
years occupied a first place among the states in 



66 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

education. But Governor Mireles now claims 
that there are loo per cent more teachers and 
100 per cent more money being spent on public 
schools this year than there were in the year 1910 — 
the last of the Diaz regime. 

While Carranza was Governor, the state voted 
a subsidy to several private American schools. 
Governor Mireles a few days ago called the 
American Directress of the Colegio Ingles to his 
office and told her that it was his desire to restore 
again the subsidy of 100 pesos a month to her 
school. He also assured her that, if she would 
begin the erection of the proposed new building 
for the school, he would see that all the materials 
brought from the United States entered free of 
duty and would also help her in purchasing at a 
reduced rate the materials bought in Mexico. 

One is reminded here of another well-known 
educator who began his work in Saltillo, the 
capital city of Coahuila. Some twenty-five years 
ago Governor Cardenas of that state decided that 
it was time that they had a public school system. 
He selected about fifteen young people to go to 
the Normal School at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, 
and prepare themselves for leading in the new 
movement. There was a young Methodist min- 
ister who had a private school that had attracted 
the attention of the Governor. The latter, 
therefore, made a proposal to the director of this 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 67 

school that he should chaperon the party of young 
people that was going to Bridgewater, adding that, 
if he cared to take any of the courses himself, 
he would be at liberty to do so. The young 
parson did take the courses along with the other 
students and also took all of the honors. When 
he returned, therefore, he was appointed director 
of the new normal school and superintendent of 
the public school system of the state. He began 
with practically nothing but his title, but he 
ended by building up for his state the best public 
school system in Mexico and erecting in the city 
of Saltillo the most modern normal school in the 
Republic. Toward the latter part of the Diaz 
regime he was suspected of being too liberal. 
A commission from the President waited upon 
him and asked for a declaration of loyalty. He 
told them that if he could change his political 
convictions as easily as he could his coat, he would 
be willing to give such a declaration as the one 
asked for, but that that would be impossible. 
He was, therefore, forced to leave the country 
and spent several years in post-graduate work and 
teaching at Vanderbilt University. Three years 
ago he returned on the invitation of President 
Carranza as the Director of Secondary Education 
for the Federal District, which amounts practically 
to being the minister of education. Recently 
he has been appointed Governor of the State of 



68 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

TamauHpas, because his ability and his sympa- 
thetic understanding of American life were especially 
needed in working out some difficult problems 
in connection with the American oil interests in 
that state. 

Another one of these young men with the 
modern viewpoint is the Governor of Zacatecas. 
When I called on him to express my hope of 
having the United States help Mexico in her 
educational problem, he said that I had arrived 
at a time oportunisimo. 

"Mexico, as all the rest of the world, is looking 
today to your great President, Mr. Wilson, who is 
unquestionably the leading citizen of the world, 
because we all have confidence in him. Closer 
relations must surely come between our country 
and yours, as they have already come between all 
the rest of Latin- America and the United States. 
A cartoon in one of our papers the other day may 
have exaggerated in a humorous way the Presi- 
dent's popularity, but it has a great deal of truth 
in it. The cartoon represented the sun as tipping 
his hat to President Wilson and asking if the 
President would still allow him to keep his central 
place in the solar system. Here are some leaflets 
containing the speeches of President Wilson, for 
which I sent to your Committee on Public Infor- 
mation in Washington. Look here what he says 
about Russia. A man who can see the question in 
that large way can certainly be trusted by all the 
nations who have great problems of reconstruction 
before them." 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 69 

When asked about his friendship for the 
working people, the Governor smiled appreciative- 
ly and explained, with the refreshing enthusiasm 
of one who has given himself to a great cause, 
what he has been doing to give the laboring 
classes an opportunity to own land in his state. 
He said: 

"Before the Revolution, this state was owned by 
a few great landlords, an average estate being from 
twenty-five to fifty thousand hectares (a hectar 
is about two and a half acres). There was one 
proprietor who has an hacienda of 600,000 hec- 
tares. These hacendados live in Mexico City or in 
Paris, employing overseers, with instructions to 
raise simply enough to give the owner what he 
needs for his income. No attempt is made to use 
modern machinery, to improve the property, or to 
intensify cultivation. I have known many peons 
who received for their daily wage five quarts of 
corn — that is, the feed for a horse. During my 
military life, in dealing with the Indians all the 
way from Sonora to Yucatan, I found that their 
one desire was for land. They could see no 
reason whatever why these proprietors should 
have all the benefits and they themselves should 
work from early morn till late at night for nothing 
but a few tortillas and frijoles. I, therefore, re- 
solved that, if I ever got an opportunity to help 
in alleviating their situation, I would do it. When 
I became a candidate for the governorship I put 
up a simple platform, concerned principally with 
agrarian laws. When I was elected I said to my- 



70 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

self, 'Now we Mexicans generally forget all about 
what we have said we would do when we come to 
take ofhce; so the one business of my official life 
shall be to carry out my platform and to see that 
the laws are obeyed'. That is a very simple plan 
and my only ambition is simply to do that 
thing. 

As you know, the question of the distribution of 
lands, which the Constitutionalists have always 
advocated, is left for the several states to work 
out. Our law here is different from that of any 
other state. In outline it is as follows : Any labor- 
ing man, native or foreign, has a right to buy from 
three to two hundred hectares of land — according 
to whether it is very rich for intensive cultivation, 
or whether it is mountain land, good simply for 
grazing — as this is about the amount of land that is 
necessary to maintain a family. When the man 
has selected the land, he can either buy it from the 
proprietor or, if the proprietor refuses to sell it, the 
Government will sell it to him at the price that the 
proprietor has estimated the land to be worth 
before the appraiser of taxes. If the Government 
is forced to make the sale, it guarantees the pay- 
ment to the owner, the purchaser paying so much 
through a term of years until the land is paid for. 
At first the large landowners fought me with every 
possible weapon, and sometimes even the central 
government was unfavorable. The question of 
the constitutionality of our law has been carried 
all through the lower courts, which have constantly 
sustained it, and it is now before the supreme 
court of Mexico, where there is little question that 
it will be decided in our favor. 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 71 

The landowners have now come to the point 
where they will sell any land that a poor man 
wishes to buy. They see that it is a good deal 
better for them to sell at a fair price than to have 
the Government force the sale at the price on 
which they have been paying taxes, which, of 
course, is practically nothing compared to the real 
value. Now all we have to do is to write to these 
proprietors in Mexico City, proposing the sale, and 
we get back word by telegram authorizing the sale. 
During the year we have placed about 2, 000 families 
on 'plots of land'. 

Military conditions in the state have changed 
entirely. This land distribution has created such a 
good feeling among the common people that, in 
spite of having hardly any federal troops to keep 
order, the common people themselves in the vari- 
ous towns organize their own militia for protec- 
tion." 

I have given this interview rather in detail 
because it touches one of the greatest problems 
in Mexico, one which has been at the very heart 
of all of the revolutionary disturbances. A little 
comparison with present conditions in Russia 
and in other parts of the world will indicate that 
the revolution begun by Madero in 191 1 — ^which 
can hardly yet be said to have ceased entirely — 
anticipated the world revolution against the 
domination of property interests, which is working 
out in its worst forms in the Bolsheviki movement 
of Russia. The Mexican has studied little Social- 



72 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

ism as it has been studied in Europe. He knows 
little of the theories of Karl Marx, and it is 
fortunate that the leadership of this revolution 
has not been of the extreme type which would 
lead Mexico into the terrible conditions in which 
Russia finds herself today. It might be pushing 
the parallel too far to say that if Villa had succeed- 
ed instead of Carranza, we would have a Bolshe- 
vist reign in Mexico now just as in Russia. There 
are, however, several points in common. 

I have intimated before, and any one who has 
known Mexico for years can not help but be 
impressed by the fact, that the power today is 
in the hands of an entirely different class of people 
from that of Diaz*s time. His party were called 
Cientificos, "Scientists", and they gloried in their 
intellectual ability. When they fell, Demos 
took the saddle, and there were times when a 
man known to be intellectual was for that very 
reason under suspicion. Practically all of the 
intellectuals left the country, and the Government 
was left largely in the hands of the rising young 
middle class. Of course it is very clear that if 
Mexico is to succeed in developing a democracy, 
the best of both of these classes must be used. 

One of the best indications that Mexico is 
returning to the normal, where both the intel- 
lectuals and the rising young generation forming a 
middle class are to take part in the direction of 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 73 

the country, was given me by a large landowner. 
He was returning to Mexico City after inspecting 
some of his large estates in the north. After giving 
me a most interesting account of how he had 
passed the several years of revolution, first in 
Paris and afterward in New York, he told me 
that he is now living, with no molestation what- 
ever, in Mexico City, and that the Government is 
offering guarantees to many of the intellectuals 
who have heretofore been political refugees. 
"Every day I meet in the streets," he said, "old 
friends of mine who belonged to the former 
regime, and all report that they are treated well. 
Sometimes, when some lesser official attempts to 
persecute them, they appeal to President Car- 
ranza and he arranges matters for them. I have 
a young nephew, who has one of the most brilliant 
minds Mexico has ever produced, who has been 
living in exile in Arizona for several years, earning 
scarcely enough to keep his family together. I 
have written him, saying that he should return 
and that he would find no persecution whatever. 
His reply is that from all he can read in the 
papers in the United States, conditions are as 
bad as ever in Mexico, and he can not feel that it 
would be safe for him to return. He could 
have plenty and to spare here in Mexico and 
enjoy his intellectual pursuits to the fullest ex- 
tent." 



74 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

The struggle of these young men against the 
old order in education is well illustrated by the 
following summary of arguments given in a 
recent pamphlet, ^ in which the young men now in 
charge of the National Preparatory School are 
arguing against a threatened return of the school 
to the old order: 

The National Preparatory School was estab- 
lished in Mexico City on two false principles, 
one administrative and the other pedagogical, to 
wit: first, that the preparatory school ought to 
have for its object the preparation of the scholar 
to enter a professional school; second, that the 
course of study ought to proceed from the abso- 
lutely abstract (mathematics) to the absolutely 
concrete (zoology). The people were left with- 
out a secondary school of general culture, as 
not all can follow a profession; and there was 
adopted a plan of studies making the sciences and 
logic the arbiter, forgetting absolutely psychology. 
These two false principles explain the evident 
failure of the National Preparatory School in 
Mexico. 

Statistics show that of each one hundred pupils 
in the school eighty failed in their studies, and of 
the other twenty probably one has distinguished 
himself in the professions. The rest have become 
members of the great army, every year growing 

2 La Escuela Preparatoria, Mexico, 19 17. 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 75 

larger, of the proletariat of the frock coat. It is 
evident that a school that gives to society only- 
one really useful man from every one hundred of 
its pupils, or, in order not to sin, let us say gives to 
it twenty, is a failure from every point of view. 

On the other hand, what has been the social 
attitude of this small group of graduates? They 
have formed the intellectual and professional 
classes, and they are a group absolutely distinct 
and therefore easily observed. In the war of the 
liberals against the conservatives, nearly all the 
intellectual class was on the side of Juarez. 
In the revolution against Diaz, and in the more 
just one against Huerta, where were the intel- 
lectuals? It is well known that generally they 
were on the side of Diaz and on the . side of 
Huerta. 

In the United States there are 13,000 secondary 
schools, approximately one for each 7,000 of the 
population. In Mexico, the old system advocated 
only one preparatory school, and, in fact, up until a 
short time ago there was only one for all the 
Federal District, which has about 700,000 inhab- 
itants. It is very clear then that, while the United 
States has formed the preparatory school for the 
people, Mexico has followed another way. 

The pamphlet just referred to contains a 
valuable critical study of the whole subject of 
secondary education in Mexico. 



76 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

On a visit to the National Preparatory School, 
of which this criticism is made, I heard an address 
by the young Governor of Coahuila, which is so 
indicative of the way the present educational 
leadership considers the problem, that I venture 
the following summary: 

*When I entered the director's room this 
morning, I saw upon the walls the picture of that 
great educator, Gabino Barreda, the founder of 
our normal school and undoubtedly the man who 
influenced, more than any other, our Mexican 
education. Although born outside of the country, 
he very soon drank deeply of our national spirit. 
He was a positivist and with his strong doctrinal- 
ism broke down the old theological ideas in our 
educational system. This positivism at that time 
served a great purpose in that it freed us from the 
old, narrow, clerical bondage, but as it developed 
and came more and more to pervade our education, 
its influence became detrimental. It produced an 
intellectual class whose members believed that 
there was no such thing as idealism. They thought 
they could measure everything by a rule and solve 
all problems by mathematics. When this intel- 
lectual class was told of the aspirations of the 
common people, of the democratic ideals that were 
beginning to develop among the common people, of 
the national aspirations of the lower classes, they 
laughed at such suggestions. To them there was 
no such thing as the soul. Truth was a matter of 
diagram, of mathematics, of scientific demonstra- 
tion. This is the explanation of the fact that the 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 77 

intellectuals of Mexico never took any part in the 
Revolution. It was impossible for them to under- 
stand the longing of the common people, and until 
the very day that these people, by their united 
efforts in every part of the nation, became vic- 
torious, the intellectuals were entirely unaware of 
the people's strength. It is one of the most 
curious phenomena of history that a great revolu- 
tion could take place among a people and the 
intellectuals be untouched by it. Herein is a great 
lesson for those of us who are leaders in this new 
life. 

If we are to have a new nation, education must 
make it. But if we are not to fail like our prede- 
cessors, we must realize the absolute necessity of 
educating the soul. If we leave out the spiritual 
and the idealistic we may expect to fail, just as 
our predecessors have failed. Far more important 
than teaching what the books say, than teaching 
certain theories of philosophy and science, is the 
work of developing the soul of young people in 
order that they may really love and serve their 
country. We young men who are leaders in the 
Revolution have been charged with being idealists, 
Utopians, with nothing practical in our program. 
We indeed are idealists. We have made many 
mistakes. We have failed often to be practical, 
and yet I say to you that we are not ashamed of 
being young or of being idealistic. Mistakes we 
shall make in the future, but we will never make 
the fundamental mistake our predecessors made 
in thinking that all is materialistic, that the people 
have no soul, that they are incapable of enthu- 
siasm and of fighting for an ideal. 



78 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

If I am permitted to mention one of the great 
dangers in education which we must fight abso- 
lutely until it is conquered, it is the matter of 
having education too closely connected with 
politics. The teacher must be absolutely as- 
sured of his position as long as life lasts. He 
must not be subject to the caprices of any political 
office-holder. In other words, the teacher must 
be so situated that he can give himself absolutely 
to his work as a life task, being assured that he is 
appreciated enough to be continued through life, 
with a sufficient salary to give him the ordinary 
comforts. This condition is not easy to bring 
about, especially in a young, turbulent democracy 
like ours. But to this end we must strive, and to 
this end I am willing to give my whole life. As 
different circles of revolutionists have arisen in all 
parts of the country, they have placed upon their 
banners a thousand different mottoes of reform. 
But every one of the thousand is comprehended 
in the great problem of education. If we solve this 
problem, those thousand ideals will be realized." 

This struggle of the young educational leaders 
for the thorough reforming of the basic principles 
of education is typical of their program for all 
departments of life, and illustrates, perhaps as 
well as anything could do, the fundamental 
character of the revolution we have been dis- 
cussing. 

We conclude then that the present trouble in 
Mexico is not simply the matter of personal 
ambitions of military leaders, but that it is a real 



A REAL REVOLUTION? 79 

social revolution. The Mexicans, who have been 
an exploited people for four centuries, have 
finally risen against conditions which long ago 
disappeared in most of the civilized world. The 
first part of the Revolution, the destruction of the 
old, has about been concluded, and Mexico now 
faces the more difficult part, that of reconstruc- 
tion. Encouraging progress has been made. 
The forward-looking young men who are engaged 
in rebuilding the nation along modem lines, 
although often mistaken in judgment, are working 
with enthusiasm and devotion to solve Mexico's 
problems. The country can never return to the 
old order, when a strong man will enforce peace 
and economic activity at the price of moral 
stagnation and social and political reaction. If 
the present reform government should be over- 
thrown, it would only mean the continuing of the 
struggle until another progressive government, 
strong enough to stand, should be set up. In the 
difficult period of reconstruction, we shall need to 
have patience with a weak people and help them 
to speed up their process of nation building. 



CHAPTER III 

WHAT KIND OF A MAN 
IS CARRANZA? 

My acquaintance with Sefior Carranza began 
in 1911, when he came to the international bound- 
ary line to meet Don Francisco Madero, who was 
making his triumphal entry into Mexico after 
his revolution had been won. When I saw these 
two men embrace, I could not help wishing that 
the big, stalwart, well-poised man of logic, instead 
of the little, excitable man of vision, were going 
to the capital to direct the affairs of the nation. 

At this time he visited the People's Institute at 
Piedras Negras, of which I was director. On 
being told by the municipal president that all the 
leading men in the new democratic life of the 
district had been trained in the debating club, the 
lecture courses, or the night classes of the Institute, 
he became interested in the multiplying of such 
institutions, and had developed definite plans 
for this when he was suddenly stopped by the 
Huerta coup d'etat. 

Since our common interest in this kind of 
education led to our friendship, which was not in 
any sense political, I feel that I knew the real 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 8i 

Carranza, especially during the time he was work- 
ing out the problems of the governorship of Coahuila. 
I never saw a man enter into the hard task of 
bettering labor conditions, equalizing taxation, 
and extending the educational work of his state 
with more enthusiasm and apparently with a 
greater desire to serve his people. Several times 
he mentioned to me that he had been called to 
Mexico City by the Madero Government, but 
he said that his greatest ambition was to work out 
the problems of his own state, and that only the 
direst necessity would cause him to abandon his 
work as Governor for any other position. I 
would say that the greatest disappointment of 
his life came when he was compelled to abandon 
these administrative reforms to take up the 
duties of a soldier. 

He has a very delightful family, consisting of a 
wife and two daughters. While he was in Piedras 
Negras, his wife and daughters were with him for 
a while and, living across the street from each 
other, our families visited back and forth, and 
learned to know one another very well. Sefiora 
Carranza and the two young lady daughters were 
quiet, unpretentious people, of what we would 
call the upper middle class. When the fighting 
got so bad that the General had to put himself at 
the head of his troops, and it was no longer safe 
for his family to stay in Mexico, it was our sad 



82 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

privilege to take them in our carriage across the 
international bridge into Texas. In its center, 
where the monument marks the boundary be- 
tween the two nations, the husband and father 
bade good-by to his loved ones. It was one of 
the most affecting scenes, though with little out- 
ward show of emotion, that I ever witnessed, and 
gave me a new respect for the man. 

In all these intimate relationships I never saw 
anything in Sefior Carranza that led me to 
believe that he was not sincere in his professions 
of love for his people. It happened that a hundred 
or more of the young men whom I taught in 
Mexico entered the Constitutionalist Army, which 
is almost entirely an organization of young men. 
From them I have always heard the highest 
praise of the personality of Senor Carranza. 
I do not hold a brief for his political opinions nor 
justify the many abuses committed by his follow- 
ers, which, as one reads history, are found to be 
very similar to what has happened in all other 
nations in periods of violent political eruption, 
but I do believe firmly in the purity of his motives. 

Venustiano Carranza was born fifty-nine years 
ago in the city of Cuatro Cienegas. His father was 
a colonel under Juarez. Carranza began to study 
law, but was seized with a youthful desire for life 
in the open, and gave himself to agriculture and 
herding on his father's estate. By this means and 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 83 

by a visit to an oculist in the United States, he 
conquered an infirmity which threatened to limit 
his whole life. In 1887, he was elected Municipal 
President of Cuatro Cienegas. The success of his 
agricultural efforts and his publication of a few 
pamphlets on agriculture and herding, decided 
his fellow-citizens to elect him Municipal President 
at a time when that office was filled by the powers 
in Mexico City. The Governor of the state asked 
him to give a report which would show how his 
city was progressing. Carranza refused to give 
any report that did not show the economic reforms 
that were necessary. So he resigned his office. 

When Cardenas became the popular candidate 
for Governor of Coahuila, and the central govern- 
ment began by despotic means to suppress his 
candidacy, Carranza and several other Liberals 
took up arms to obtain the right to elect their own 
governor. On hearing, that Diaz considered his 
action simply that of a bandit, Carranza went 
alone to Mexico City to discuss the matter with 
Diaz. The result of the interview was that 
Diaz agreed to withdraw his candidate and 
Cardenas became Governor. Carranza himself 
was later elected a member of the State Legis- 
lature, and following that a member of the Federal 
Senate. In 1908 he was designated by Congress 
to substitute for the Governor of his state for a few 
months. He founded a number of hospitals and 



84 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

schools, and prosecuted maladministration to 
such an extent that he was asked to run for the 
governorship the next term. He was requested 
by Diaz to withdraw his candidacy, but he 
refused. 

It was this campaign of Carranza^s which first 
enHsted Francisco I. Madero in active poUtics. 
Madero made speeches for Carranza and contri- 
buted to his expenses, only to see Carranza meet 
the fate of all opposition candidates under the 
Diaz system — he was counted out. The young, 
idealistic Madero, seeing how the system operated, 
plunged then heart and head into the campaign for 
electoral reform, which led to the revolution 
against Diaz. Madero said, just after the success 
of his revolution, that to the example of Carranza, 
and to his ideals in politics, he owed the inspiration 
that led him into taking up the sword against 
Diaz. 

Madero once elevated to the presidency by 
means of free election, his administration was 
quickly beset by intrigue and treachery on the 
part of the group who pretended to be his friends. 
These men, who protested an ardent and patriotic 
desire to forget the past and to cooperate in 
upholding the new government and its proposed 
reforms, seemed to do so only to obscure their 
purpose of discrediting the latter and to cloak 
their treasonable intent to overthrow the con- 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 85 

stitutional chief magistrate. The conspiracy 
assumed such proportions that Madero, beUeving 
as he did in those who pledged their honor to his 
support, was rendered helpless for the time being 
in carrying out the program of the revolution. 
At this moment the conspirators, assisted by a 
large group of corrupt officers of the Army, 
struck the blow known as the insurrection of the 
Ciudadela, which offered to General Victoriano 
Huerta, commanding general of the government 
forces, the opportunity treacherously to assume 
the dictatorship of Mexico. The President and 
Vice-President were brutally put to death, and a 
reign of terror inaugurated that horrified the 
world. Such were the incidents that induced the 
Constitutionalist movement of today, a movement 
which is simply a continuation of the revolution 
of 1910. 

While certain governors of states and a majority 
of the military commanders accepted Huerta in 
the role that he assumed, Venustiano Carranza, 
who in the meantime had been elected Gov- 
ernor of the State of Coahuila, refused to be 
cowed. He boldly declared himself in oppo- 
sition to the dictator and his so-called govern- 
ment, and, with his state militia, commenced 
immediate operations for armed resistance. He 
announced that he regarded his action as a struggle 
to the death. Madero had failed, Carranza 



86 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

believed, because of compromise with the reaction- 
aries. He would stake all on the struggle, as the 
following words, uttered at that time, show: 
"I am the only leader recognized as supreme by 
all the chiefs of the revolution. What we fight 
for is the Constitution of our country and the 
development of our people. Huerta outraged the 
Constitution when he overthrew and murdered 
President Madero. He continues to outrage it 
by attempting to govern despotically as Diaz did, 
and refusing to administer fairly the laws, which 
are equal for all. This revolution can not cease 
until either we, the Constitutionalists, triumph, 
or until Huerta triumphs completely over us. 
Even in the latter case it would only cease for 
the moment, for the revolution has its roots in 
social causes." 

To the question, 'What kind of a man is 
Carranza?" one might answer, offhand, that he 
is very much the same kind of a man that Presi- 
dent Wilson is. At least they are strikingly alike 
in certain respects. Take for instance, the matter 
of set ideas or, to use a less complimentary term 
of opponents — stubbornness. Carranza has never 
varied in his program since the very first day that 
he tacked his little thesis up on the door of the 
Custom House in Piedras Negras, when he 
began the revolution against Huerta. Having 
read what he said in 191 3, I realized when I saw 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 87 

him last, six years later, in the National Palace, 
that he had the same ideas still and the same 
determination to carry them out. How many 
times during the intervening years have we 
supposed that Carranza was "done for!" It was 
triumphantly alleged that Huerta had eliminated 
him. When Villa turned against him, it was 
declared impossible for Carranza to continue. 
By others he was pushed on out of the country 
until he finally found himself in Vera Cruz — 
only one more step would plunge him into the 
deep blue sea! But Carranza is today occupying 
the National Palace and people everywhere — 
even those who two years ago assured me of the 
impossibility of his holding out — are now saying 
that there appears to be no one of sufficient 
strength to threaten his power. Obregon told a 
friend that when he first met Carranza he was 
very much put out by the First Chief's insistence 
on reading every little word of every little dis- 
patch or document that he was to sign. He was so 
deliberate and so slow that it seemed he would 
never get anywhere. "But," said Obregon, "as 
I came to know him more intimately I began to 
regard him as a machine, something like a steam 
roller, which, as it moved over the ground, did 
not neglect the smallest particle, but left each 
detail packed down in the right place, as it moved 
slowly but surely toward the accomplishment of 



88 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

its object." Carranza's stubbornness, or his 
insistence on keeping to the same program, 
even if the whole world were against him, could 
hardly be called a Latin-American characteristic. 
It is the same, however, that was responsible for 
the final triumph of Juarez, and is probably an 
Indian inheritance. 

Reverses never seemed to suggest anything to 
Carranza but fighting on to the bitter end. 
Several months after he had established his 
headquarters at Piedras Negras at the beginning 
of the Revolution, he wished to join the growing 
armed forces in Sonora. He intended to go through 
the United States by rail, but learned that if he 
did so he would be arrested for violating the 
neutrality laws. He decided to make the trip 
by horseback and rode for sixty days through the 
worst kind of country, covering about 3,000 
kilometers. It was reported everywhere that he 
was killed, as no word was received from him 
throughout the trip. But his stubbornness and 
his iron constitution scored again. 

Two years later, after incessant struggle, he 
succeeded in approaching Mexico and laying 
siege with his army. The Minister of Brazil, 
representing the various diplomats of the capital, 
sought an interview with him, which was granted 
on the condition that the only topic discussed 
should be the surrender of Mexico City and the 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 89 

dissolution of Huerta*s army. During the inter- 
view the Brazihan diplomat attempted to deflect 
the conversation to other issues. He offered 
General Carranza recognition by the governments 
of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and the United States, 
if, when the city was surrendered, Carranza 
would guarantee the freedom of all of the inhab- 
itants of all political creeds and would incorporate 
in his army the officers of Huerta*s army. Car- 
ranza replied that he had agreed to the interview 
on the condition that no other subject but the 
surrender of Mexico City should be discussed. 
The Minister countered with the threat that he 
would see then that Carranza was not recognized 
by any of the governments he represented. The 
General rose from his chair, brought his fist down 
on the table, and told the Minister that he might 
do whatever he wished and that the interview 
was concluded. It was only a few days later that 
Carranza entered Mexico in triumph. The same 
refusal to yield, often when the odds were entirely 
against him, has been repeatedly shown. 

In the first part of the Revolution, Don Venus- 
tiano counted greatly on the help of his brother, 
Don Jesus. While the latter was in Tehuantepec 
inspecting troops, he was betrayed into the 
hands of the enemy. A telegram was sent im- 
mediately to the First Chief, giving him a choice 
between the shooting of his brother and the other 



90 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

prisoners and entering into a compact with the 
reactionary party. Carranza immediately an- 
swered that principle was greater than life, even 
the life of those dearest to him, and refused to 
compromise. The enemy coldly calculated how 
they might bring the greatest pressure to bear. 
The shooting of each prisoner was telegraphed to 
Carranza. First came the members of the personal 
staff of Don Jesus, afterward some of his family, 
and finally the old General himself. Days after- 
ward loyal troops found the remains in the 
mountains, and took them to Vera Cruz, the 
headquarters of the First Chief, for burial. 
As a Mexican writer says: "This heroic city 
received them with consternation and with full 
admiration for an immortal one, the glory of a 
race which had inspired Cuahtemoc to lie on 
his bed of torment for its admiration during five 
centuries of time. Don Venustiano Carranza 
received the remains and conducted them to the 
cemetery. His face was the face cut out of granite 
by the hand of the Aztec. Perhaps only in his 
eyes was reflected the profound suffering of his 
soul, as he followed silently on foot the undecor- 
ated casket."^ 

The international policy of the United States 
in relation to the Latin-American countries is 



^ Antonio Manero in Mexico y la Solidaridad Mexicana, from 
which other material in this chapter has also been drawn. 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 91 

generally one which desires order and peace above 
all else. On August 13, 1915, in union with six 
other American powers, this Government sent 
an invitation to all the generals commanding the 
different revolutionary forces in Mexico to meet 
in conference, in order to come to a decision that 
would pacify the disturbed Republic. All of them 
accepted the invitation but Carranza. The 
following extract from the reply of his Minister 
will intimate the why of his "stubbornness" as it 
was called in this country and his intransigencia 
as it was called in Mexico : 

"He can not consent to a discussion of the 
domestic affairs of the Republic by mediation or 
on the initiative of any foreign government what- 
ever. . . Mexico is now stirred by a genuine 
revolution which aims at doing away with the last 
vestiges of the colonial times, as well as with all 
the errors and excesses of past administrations, and 
to satisfy the noble yearnings of the Mexican 
people for well-being and improvement. . . 
Started by Don Francisco I. Madero, the revolu- 
tion of 19 10 could not be carried out because of the 
compromise effected at Ciudad Juarez with the old 
regime. The treaties there concluded allowed the 
enemies of the people to stand and were one of the 
main causes of the tragic events of February, 19 13, 
which are surely known to Your Excellencies and 
in the contriving of which no small part was taken 
by several foreign ministers accredited to the 
Government of Mexico. . . I have no doubt 
that Your Excellencies will draw from the fore- 



92 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

going statement the intimate conviction that by 
entering into agreements with the vanquished 
faction, the First Chief would relinquish not only 
the victory won at the cost of so many sacrifices 
but also the First Chiefship of the Constitutionalist 
Army and the executive power of the nation and 
thereby foil the faith and confidence reposed in 
him by the Mexican Army and people. Further- 
more, Your Excellencies must not forget that the 
yearning of this people for freedom and democracy 
is entirely legitimate and that nobody has a right 
to prevent their enjoying the fruit of their trying 
struggles in the not distant future. "^ 

On another occasion, when many were deserting 
his standards and everything looked discouraging, 
he said to his followers: "For serving the country 
there is never a surplus of individuals, nor is 
anyone ever missed who leaves its service." 

Carranza's critics say that he selects his advisers 
not because of their intrinsic worth but because 
of their willingness and ability to do the will of 
their chief. It is said that a few nights after 
Carranza had decided to lead the revolution in 
opposition to Huerta, several friends gathered in a 
room in the Hotel Coahuila in Saltillo to talk over 
plans for the coming campaign. One of the men 
said to the Governor: "It seems to me that now 
in the beginning of this important business is the 
time for you to surround yourself with some wise, 



2 World Peace Foundation "The New Pan-Americanism." 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 93 

trusted advisers." The reply of Governor Car- 
ranza is reported to have been, "I am my own 
adviser." As I write today there is in the Mexican 
Cabinet no Secretary of Foreign Relations, no 
Secretary of the Treasury, no Secretary of War. 
These portfolios are all handled by sub-secretaries, 
young men who have been with Carranza since 
the beginning of the Revolution and in whom he 
has implicit confidence that they will do without 
question what he tells them. 

There are two kinds of leadership. One is the 
kind that sees a vision and places the responsibility 
of carrying out that vision upon carefully selected 
men, who are made to feel the responsibilities of 
the great tasks before them. The other is the 
kind that assumes openly and without reserve 
the responsibility for carrying forward the task 
and selects lieutenants, whose greatest recom- 
mendation is the fact that they will be absolutely 
true to the leader and the cause that he represents. 
Whether or not the latter is the better type, it is 
preeminently the type represented by President 
Carranza. 

Another characteristic of the President is his 
dignity and reserve. He prefers to sit behind 
closed doors and operate by the power of his 
logic and the force of his ideas rather than to go 
out before a crowd and hear their cries of Viva el 
Presidente! I remember the old days when he 



94 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

was running for the governorship of Coahuila. His 
campaign was the first one ever conducted in that 
state by an open appeal to the pubHc in general. 
He wished to inaugurate open campaigning 
because he wanted the people to realize that 
Mexico was coming into a new democratic life, 
when the people themselves must judge be- 
tween the candidates. However, Carranza himself 
scarcely ever made a speech. He had three fiery 
young orators — two of them now governors of 
states — ^who accompanied him on his campaign. 
When he got to a city these orators answered the 
addresses of welcome, made speeches before all 
kinds of gatherings, and used all the tricks of 
campaigns learned from the United States, while 
Senor Carranza would sit quietly by and look 
pleased. Most of his time in each of the towns 
was given to conferences with individuals of 
importance in the community. So, today, he 
very seldom makes an address or publishes a 
statement. 

Another outstanding characteristic of the Presi- 
dent is his nationalism. This is shown first in his 
profound belief in the Mexican people and their 
ability to govern themselves. The type of 
nationalism incarnate in Carranza is that which is 
common to the leading patriots and political 
ideologists of the Latin-American countries. This 
important matter North Americans generally fail to 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 95 

realize. It is patriotism of an intense and severe sort, 
passionate for progress according to the national 
norm, desirous of assimilating helpful elements 
from abroad, but jealously guarding disintegration 
of the indigenous culture by forces inimical to the 
Latin conception of democracy. This idealistic 
nationalism which breathes through the political 
programs of the Hispanic-American republics has 
been set forth in an illiminating manner by the 
Argentine author, Ricardo Rojas.^ Nationalism 
he defines as patriotism with its territorial base, 
the land, and its political base, the nation. Its 
elements are solidarity and the consciousness of 
tradition and of language. He regards as "active 
factors of national dissolution,'^ Jewish schools 
where lessons are given in Hebrew, "colleges of 
religious congregations, Protestant establishments, 
and German and Italian educational institutions 
which obey foreign governments." Discouragingly 
he describes a growing "cosmopolitanism in men 
and ideas, the dissolution of the old moral nucleii, 
indifference concerning public business, and in- 
creasing forgetfulness of traditions, the popular 
corruption of language, ignorance of our own 
territory, lack of national solidarity, anxiety for 
riches without scruple, the worship of the most 
ignoble hierarchies, the disdain of higher accom- 
plishments, the lack of passion in struggle, the 

« Rojas: "Lo Restauracion Nacionalista." 



96 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

lowering of suffrage, superstitious regard for 
exotic names, and blasting individualism and 
depreciation of ideals." 

Analogous to Rojas's dream for the Argentine 
is Carranza*s confidence In the latent power of 
Mexico to develop a large and vigorous life out of 
indigenous roots and springs. Our own experience 
with German permeation will help us to understand 
this attitude. 

The essential points of Carranza*s doctrine are: 
first, "No nation should intervene in any form or 
for any reason in the affairs of another"; second, 
"Nationals and aliens should be equal before the 
sovereignty of the country in which they reside" ^ 
third, "Diplomacy should not serve to protect 
private Interests." 

The principle of emancipation from foreign 
coercion, exploitation, and domination, and the 
right of self-determination and self -direction have 
been affirmed In no less clear and emphatic terms 
by the President of- the United States. Speaking of 
Latin-America as a whole, Mr. Wilson said in his 
Mobile address (quoted in New York Times): 

*What these states are going to see, therefore, is 
an emancipation from the subordination, which 
has been Inevitable, to foreign enterprise, and an 
assertion of the splendid character which, in spite 
of these difficulties, they have again and again 
been able to demonstrate. The dignity, the 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 97 

courage, the self-possession, the self-respect of the 
Latin- American states, their achievements in the 
face of all these adverse circumstances, deserve 
nothing but the admiration and applause of the 
world. They have had harder bargains driven 
with them in the matter of loans than any other 
peoples of the world. Interest has been exacted 
of them that was not exacted of anybody else, 
because the risk was said to be greater; and thus 
securities were taken that destroyed the risk — an 
admirable arrangement for those who were forcing 
the terms! I rejoice in nothing so much as in the 
prospect that they will now be emancipated from 
these conditions, and we ought to be the first to 
take part in assisting in that emancipation." 

President Carranza believes that the Diaz 
regime had given Mexico largely over to foreigners 
and the Mexicans themselves had had little 
opportunity to reap any benefits from the enor- 
mous material riches of their country. From the 
very first, he has felt that Mexico must be ruled 
for the benefit of the Mexicans. This actually 
seems strange to some foreigners. Many think 
Carranza*s first interest should be to please the 
United States, that whenever any question comes 
up for decision his first thought should be, "How 
will this affect Americans?" We would understand 
many of his actions a great deal better if we could 
put ourselves in the place of the Mexican people. 

Opponents of the present Mexican administra- 
tion have not been slow to turn to their own 



98 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

advantage the President's uncompromising adher- 
ence to the principle of state integrity and cohesion, 
as over against selfish individualism and non- 
cooperative exploitation. This they have done 
by distorting the Government's attitude toward 
individual rights and enterprise. Senor Manero, 
official interpreter of Sefior Carranza to the Latin- 
American countries, says: 

"One of the most advertised pretexts in foreign 
countries against the policies of Mr. Carranza has 
been the lack of individual guarantees, which 
always ought to be the inseparable norm in all 
political mechanism or government. Mexican 
citizens who have abandoned the country have 
claimed this, and, in the same way, foreigners 
formerly resident in Mexico who yet have certain 
interests there have taken this pretext to provoke 
for the Mexican Government difficulties of all 
kinds to hinder its organization and consolidation. 

There has been a special reason why this was 
the theme most often appealed to by the reaction- 
aries. Those who make relations difficult between 
foreign governments and the Constitutionalist 
Government have found their most powerful aid in 
making difficult the interior political situation — 
as it is well known that the moral assistance of the 
world's opinion in favor of or against a government 
is an important factor, not only in its international 
relations, but also in its interior development. 
Reactionaries always played upon this theme be- 
fore the White House, in order to create an atmos- 
phere of suspicion in the American Government 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 99 

toward Mexico, and the press everywhere has been 
used as a powerful element to alarm foreign capi- 
talists who have had interests in Mexico. The 
reactionaries have never made distinctions between 
legitimate properties of nationals and foreigners 
and those which have been acquired by dispos- 
session, by political influence, and by force. 

It is impossible to believe that respect will be 
paid to the colossal holdings of some — fortunately 
very few — ^who have deprived the ancient Indian 
owners of their legitimate possessions. . . It is 
impossible to believe that respect will be shown for 
monopolies founded in financial intrigues with 
former secretaries of state. . . It is impossible to 
believe, finally, that respect will be shown for the 
personal safety of foreigners who, without any 
right whatever, have mixed in the political ques- 
tions of the country and have furnished money, 
material, and moral influence for committing real 
crimes, as was done in the battle of Mexico City 
and in the assassination of Madero and Suarez. 

But it is still more difficult to believe that the 
life and liberty of honored foreigners who have 
complied with their duties of neutrality and social 
obligations will not be respected, and yet more 
difficult to beheve that their property, secured 
by their hard work and legitimate rights guaran- 
teed by the Mexican Constitution, will not be 
respected. The manifesto directed to the nation 
by Mr. Carranza, on the nth of June, 1915, in 
Vera Cruz, at a time when, from a military point 
of view, the reaction dominated the country, very 
clearly explains this matter. It contained these 
words: 'The Constitutionalist Government offers 



100 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

to the foreign residents in Mexico the guarantees 
to which they have a right, according to our laws, 
and it will protect amply their lives, liberty, and 
enjoyment of their legal rights and their property. 
According to the indemnization for the harm that 
the Revolution has caused, wherever such indem- 
nization is just, the Government will assume the 
responsibility of financial obligations which are 
legitimate'." ^ 

One of President Carranza's most recent utter- 
ances, as the spokesman of his government, is 
contained in an interview published in the San 
Antonio Express: 

"There has been much misunderstanding, or 
ignorance, in regard to Mexico's foreign policy. 
It has been represented that the new constitution 
leads to an attack, tantamount to confiscation, 
upon foreign-owned property in Mexico. Nothing 
could be farther from the facts. The truth is that 
foreign capital coming here under the present laws 
and abiding by the present laws will find not only 
an open door, but protection. Under the old con- 
stitution foreign capital had more privileges than 
had Mexican capital itself, a system manifestly 
unfair and unjust. Under the new laws foreign 
capital is welcomed and protected, but the Mexi- 
can investor is also protected and given a fair 
chance for competition and legitimate profit. 

One of the great works of the Mexican Govern- 
ment, hinging upon thorough reconstruction of the 
country, is the breaking up of the old system of 

* Manero: Mexico y la SoUdaridad Americana. 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? loi 

vast tracts of land which were owned or acquired 
by a few individuals and upon which a state of 
practical serfdom existed. This vicious system is 
being done away with. The Government is 
starting to buy or otherwise legally to acquire 
these lands, in order to give them back to the peo- 
ple at small cost with long-time payments. It is 
bringing the latest scientific farming machinery 
and implements into the country, and is demon- 
strating to the farmer their use by what may be 
called movable schools on the railroads. The 
Government is helping the farmer to buy these. 

With independence coming from his own land, 
the farmer will put part of his profits back into the 
soil, reaping richer harvests, and with his children 
being taught at the schools we are to establish, the 
Mexican home will be the basis for a better citizen- 
ship. In the increasing number of elementary 
schools is to be found tangible evidence of the 
Government's progress in fostering public educa- 
tion. The bill has just been signed for the reopen- 
ing of the National Agricultural College. The 
eagerness of the people to learn and their general 
response are gratifying signs of their appreciation 
of the true democracy which it is the pledge of my 
administration to give my country. 

Mexico is going rapidly ahead. It is at peace. 
The reports spread abroad of unrest and of out- 
rages committed on trains and passengers have 
given the impression, helped by exaggerated state- 
ments, that the country is generally disturbed. 
Such is not the case. Two or three men blow up a 
train, a hundred or two hundred men stop a 
freight train in isolated places, but this does not 



102 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

mean that it is general. These hold-ups or rob- 
beries may be compared to what the United States 
experienced for some years after your war of 
secession and before the law authorities could 
bring about complete order. The bandit gangs 
were daring and many, holding up coaches and 
railroad trains. While this was going on in the 
southern and western parts of the United States, the 
north and the rest of the country were peaceable and 
progressing and flourishing. So it is with Mexico. 
In those days the United States had more than 
60,000,000 population and many more resources 
at its command than has Mexico at the present 
day. And the United States was better able to 
cope with the train robbers than is Mexico, but the 
train robber still exists. His gangs had to be de- 
stroyed before the country was safe. We are 
working on the same problem and making pro- 
gress, but the difference is great, in that the United 
States was not hampered by foreign interests 
which gave aid and arms and ammunition to the 
bandits, as in the case of Mexico." 

That Mr. Carranza has been able to make his 
nationalism a practical success so far as Mexico's 
financial status is concerned can not be gainsaid. 
During 191 7-1 91 8, all expenses of government 
were paid from the federal revenues. The most 
sweeping monetary reforms have followed a 
scientific investigation of the methods and results 
of taxation. As the correspondent of the New 
York Tribune^ writing from Mexico City, said:^ 

6 In the issue of March 12, 1919. 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 103 

"Mexico has been trying to work out a financial 
system adapted to present-day conditions. To 
this end President Carranza appointed a Comision 
de Reorganizacion Administrativa y Financier a ^ 
which at once availed itself of the services of for- 
eign economists. A preliminary survey of the 
Mexican revenue problem, with suggestions for 
the reconstruction of the system, was published 
in July last by Dr. Henry Alfred E. Chandler, 
Professor of Economics in Columbia University, 
with a foreword by Professor Edwin R. A. Selig- 
man, of the same institution. Professor Seligman 
pointed out that *a fundamental defect of the old 
system was the multiplicity of taxes*. And he 
asserted that 'just as the French Revolution swept 
away at one blow the heterogeneous mass of the 
complicated medieval taxes in order to replace 
them by a small number of well selected imposts, 
so the first task of the fiscal reformer in Mexico 
must be to introduce simplicity in the tax system. 
A few carefully chosen resources of revenue will be 
preferable to a jumble of partial and ineffective 
imposts'. 

This statement, much amplified by Professor 
Chandler, has been deeply pondered by Mexican 
statesmen. Just the opposite of this principle was 
applied in the Diaz government, when every little 
pedler had to pay for the privilege of selling his hand- 
ful of sweets or what-not, whereas the great landed 
proprietors and big firms paid little or nothing." 

To prevent waste of public funds and provide 
a modem system of accounting, an expert from 
New York was invited to bring to Mexico a 



104 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

staff of accountants in order to install an audit 
office. There has been strenuous opposition to 
this procedure from the grafters, and I understand 
that they have recently succeeded in ousting some of 
the American experts. But the system still stands. 

The federal income shows encouraging increase. 
One of the most astonishing items is the receipts 
from pulque y which were 140 pesos ^ a month in 
19 10, and in February of 1918 were 140,000 pesos. 
During the Diaz regime this national drink traffic 
was largely controlled by government favorites 
and had paid practically no tax. 

No interest on the national debt has been paid 
for several years. That debt and the unpaid 
interest on the same pending in the spring of 191 9, 
was about $265,000,000 (U. S. currency). To get 
Mexico's total debt, the just claims of foreign inter- 
ests on account of damage to property during the 
Revolution would have to be added. No one knows 
what these will be, but probably nothing like the 
large sum held in the popular imagination. One 
authority has estimated this damage at $100,000,- 
000, with the total debt, including $50,000,000 
for internal improvements, at $450,000,000. Thirty 
dollars per capita is not a large national debt.^ 

The increasing prosperity of Mexico may be 
judged by the fact that the total receipts by the 



« A peso is worth about fifty cents United States currency. 
» Trowbridge, "Mexico Today and Tomorrow." 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 105 

Government in 191 8, as shown by a statement 
issued by the Mexican Treasury on March 8, 1919, 
were $149,141,378.65, the largest receipts of any 
year in Diaz's administration being $105,203,000 
(pesos). ^ 

President Carranza's confidence in the country's 
solvency is so firm that there has been no disposi- 
tion to repudiate any legitimate claim. It is 
true that at the beginning of the Constitutionalist 
Government it was resolved to repudiate all the 



8 The Financial Agent of the Mexican Government in New 
York recently issued the following statement (New York 5«w, 
Julyi4, 1919): 

THE PUBLIC DEBT 

The external and internal debt of Mexico, estimated up to 
the last day of the month of June, 1919, is, in the United States 
currency, as follows: 

Principal Interest 

External Debt $143,472,125.68 $34,001,469.33 

Internal Debt 69,397,775.00 17,914,672.62 

$212,869,900.68 $51,916,141.95 
Grand Total $264,786,042.63 U. S. currency 

This amount of a little more than a quarter of a billion dollars 
is distributed among a population of sixteen millions or therea- 
bouts. At the close of the Civil War the United States, with a 
population two and one-half times as great, had a total indebted- 
ness of three billions of dollars. Canada, with a population of less 
than one-half that of Mexico has a present indebtedness of two 
billions of dollars, and is now increasing it in order to care for its 
home-coming soldiers. 

Mexico has always paid what she owed, and the longer her 
creditors have waited for her to pay, the more costly it has been 
to Mexico. It is estimated that the Government revenues for 
the present year will yield one hundred million dollars United 
States currency. 



io6 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

loans Huerta might have made abroad, but, to 
quote President Carranza*s recent message to 
Congress: 

"Nevertheless, the Constitutionalist Govern- 
ment does not shirk the recognition of all legiti- 
mate obligations contracted previous to the 
Revolution, and consequently considers as out- 
standing the debts covered by Huerta's adminis- 
tration with bonds or funds acquired by means of 
unlawful loans." 

Carranza has insisted on his government's 
paying its own way, and he has made no foreign 
loans. This rigid economy has been at the 
expense of efficiency in some of the most vital 
parts of Mexico's life. It is particularly noticeable 
in the conduct of the railroads and the schools, the 
equipment of both being fearfully "run down at 
the heel." 

Carranza intimates that he will borrow only 
sufficient funds to pay the nation's debts, and will 
continue to cut the garment of national expendi- 
ture according to the cloth of actual income. To 
the best friends of Mexico, who would like to see 
the process of reconstruction hurried, this attitude 
would seem as unfortunate as are some other 
indications of the President's extreme nationalism. 
It is all right to be economical, to keep out of the 
grasp of creditors, but there are times when it is a 
very bad business policy for either an individual 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 107 

or a nation to go to an extreme in this. These 
are days of Vig business," and not all of it, 
by any means, is bad business. It would seem 
that the devoted teachers of Mexico should not 
be made to wait weeks for back salaries; that the 
opening of new institutions and the strengthening 
of old ones should not be indefinitely postponed; 
that railroad trains should not be left to limp along 
on flat wheels and burnt-out boilers, and all kinds 
of needed improvements which would help to 
give employment to the idle should not be held up 
until even a rich country like Mexico can recuper- 
ate its full strength after eight years of civil war. 
There are hopeful evidences that President Car- 
ranza will shift back to a sensible nationalism on 
this matter as he is beginning to do on others, and 
the evidences are just as hopeful that American 
financiers will meet him half way. 

It is possible that a good deal of the President's 
nationalistic policy, which has included an ugly 
slap at foreign governments once in a while, has 
been due to the fact that he knew it was good 
politics with his own people. But one who visits 
Mexico today is impressed by the fact that she 
has begun to realize that she has been entirely 
too nationalistic, too self-satisfied, too afraid of 
foreign influences, and that her future depends 
largely on her reaching out to the world and 
bringing to Mexico the lessons of the progressive 



io8 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

nations. The criticism of the. keenest minds con- 
cerning President Carranza is that he has been too 
intensely nationalistic, especially in refusing to 
accept the help which at various times the United 
States has been ready to offer. The following is 
the summary of an article appearing recently in 
a Mexican paper: 

"President Carranza left Mexico City yesterday 
for the United States on a special train. He will 
proceed directly to New York, where he will 
board a warship of the United States, on which 
he is to accompany President Wilson and many 
other prominent delegates to the Peace Conference 
in Paris. President Carranza will represent 
Mexico at the conference and will suggest to the 
delegates how the immense natural resources of 
Mexico can be put at the disposal of the nations 
in the great work of world reconstruction." Then 
in small type the article continues: "This and 
many other similar things could now be written 
concerning the great opportunity that President 
Carranza has had of making Mexico count in the 
great work of bringing peace and prosperity to a 
torn world, if he had only seen his opportunity, left 
off his intense nationalism, and entered into an 
alliance with the other great democratic nations 
of the world." 

The author of that article, who is a strong Con- 
stitutionalist, says that President Carranza now 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 109 

recognizes the need of modifying his program of 
isolation and welcoming closer cooperation with 
the United States. 

This judgment is in line with that of the Presi- 
dent's closest friends and with the outspoken 
desire for friendship with the United States which 
he expressed personally to the writer in an inter- 
view had with him very recently. 

One of the most evident expressions of Carran- 
za's nationalism, and the one of his constitutional 
reforms that is most widely discussed, is the oil 
legislation which has thrown foreign capital into 
such consternation. This is of a piece with Car- 
ranza's fiscal policy in general, and is an attempt 
to preserve Mexican tradition — to found the new 
order upon a basic principle of Mexico's economic 
life, which was laid down at the very beginning 
of the Spanish occupation. The Spanish law made 
a distinction between surface rights and mineral 
rights. It reserved to the Crown the exclusive 
ownership of the subsoil; and, therefore, the 
Crown held the titles to all mining properties. 
When Mexico became a republic, the crown rights 
passed to the Federal Government. All subse- 
quent mining laws of Mexico are based on this 
ancient tradition of government ownership. The 
man who buys a mine receives not a deed, but a 
permit. He owns the product of the mine, but not 
the subterranean area itself. The distinction is a 



1 10 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

fine one, but it has acquired significance for the 
sensitive Mexican reformer since President Diaz, 
departing from the traditional principle, secured 
from his Congress a formal act exempting petro- 
leum from classification with minerals. Carranza's 
legislation aims to rescue his country from the 
compromise into which she fell by the pressure 
upon Diaz of foreign capital. It is not that he 
wishes to place an embargo on foreign investments 
as such; for the new legislation is as strenuously 
opposed by Mexican oil investors as it is by 
foreigners. 

While foreign investors may justly complain at 
the high tax imposed upon petroleum by the new 
law, and while mistakes have been made in its 
application, yet it should not be forgotten that 
previous to 191 7 foreigners paid almost no taxes 
upon the product of their wells. The Mexican 
Government is sincere in the conviction that it is 
well within its rights in enacting the new law, 
which is merely the reassertion of a constitutional 
principle. 

There is a growing disposition to come to a 
clear and amicable understanding on the subject 
with the United States. This attitude was warmly 
expressed by Senor Palavicini, one of the present can- 
didates for the presidency, who said to me recently : 

"The revolutionary movement has intensified 
the nationalistic spirit. The cry, ^Mexico for the 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? iii 

Mexicans* has, I admit, gone too far. But, as to 
oil, the new law here is practically no different 
from that in most of the other civilized countries. 

We recognize that we must live as neighbors to 
the United States. We know that she is much 
stronger than we are. And, even having the pure 
technical right on our side, it may not be con- 
venient to follow these rights to their logical con- 
clusion. I wish that the Government would take 
the opportunity offered them to send a well- 
versed lawyer to the United States to explain to 
the public in general the Mexican position. I 
think we have been too nationalistic in our pro- 
gram. We need to let the people in the United 
States know what we think, and that we are 
willing to make certain sacrifices, in order to live 
in peace and harmony." 

The same thing has been expressed a little dif- 
ferently by Manuel Carpio, another newspaper 
man who knows the mind of his country. He 
says: 

"Mexico is utterly deprived of financial resources 
with which to meet the elementary necessities of 
public administration. School teachers have been 
working almost without pay in many Mexican 
cities, where public schools have increased in 
number. Municipal administration in the new 
free city governments has been in a precarious 
state since the beginning of the new constitutional 
national administration. Manufacture and agri- 



112 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

culture, the efficiency of which has been greatly 
impaired by the national upheaval, have not been 
able to provide sustenance for a large number of 
workers and have not been a satisfactory source of 
revenue for the national treasury. 

On the other hand, the flow of oil out of Mexican 
territory has taken place in such tremendous quan- 
tities that it represents untold wealth, leaving the 
Mexican nation practically nothing as the product 
of that gigantic industry. The plan of nationaliz- 
ing the Mexican oil fields was resorted to in the 
new Constitution with a view to raising a reason- 
able revenue for the benefit of the country, but 
there has been no intent or action on the part of 
the republic to 'grab American millions', as Senator 
Porter puts it. Mexico believes itself a free 
country, albeit not a powerful one. If it relin- 
quishes all its rights to modify laws affecting its 
greatest national resource because of the claims of 
'private property' and of 'concessions' to foreign 
enterprises, then it cannot call itself a nation, but 
will virtually become the property of these enter- 
prises. 

It is of paramount importance to note that there 
is really no purpose in the Mexican mind, however 
backward it may be rated by other minds, to take 
away from the owners the things that belong to 
them. There is only the purpose of obtaining from 
them, through necessary taxation, a proportional, 
and by no means high, revenue for the benefit of 
the country." 

It has always seemed to me that the President's 
greatest fault was his ultra-nationalism. How far 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 113 

he has thought this necessary to keep his own 
people with him, and how far it represents his 
own attitude, I am not sure. He has failed to 
accept many opportunities that the American 
Government and people have offered for the 
assistance of Mexico. 

No one who knows him intimately, however, 
could doubt his profound respect and admiration 
for American civilization. He has shown himself 
especially fond of the American educational sys- 
tem. During his public life he has been the means 
of sending many scores of students and teachers 
to the United States to study her educational 
system. All through his life he has been a firm 
friend to American Protestant schools in Mexico. 
He has been at times severely criticized by his 
own people for showing marked friendship to 
certain American citizens. His most trusted 
counselors have been notably pro- American. An 
example of this was found recently when the rela- 
tions with the American oil men in the Tampico 
District became acute and the President, as 
already stated, selected Dr. Andres Osuna, a man 
who has lived in this country for many years and 
is a thorough admirer of American life, to become 
Military Governor of the State, in order to work 
out the problem with the American financiers. 

President Carranza is an extremely hard worker. 
Most of all his waking hours are spent in the Na- 



114 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

tional Palace. He does not live in the Chapultepec 
Palace, which he has every right to do, but in a 
modest home on the Paseo de la Rejorma. His 
family makes no great effort at display. He main- 
tains all around him a dignified, democratic 
atmosphere, and retains the simple habits of a 
plainsman. He often walks of mornings, accom- 
panied by a friend, from his residence to the gov- 
ernment palace, a distance of some mile and a 
half. He is a total abstainer from liquor and 
tobacco, and a disciplinarian in big as well as in 
these little things. He rises at five o^clock. His 
tall, wiry figure — he is more than six feet high — 
is set up like a soldier's, and a long gray beard 
below his smooth-shaven sunburned cheeks accen- 
tuates the dominating, patriarchal type of man 
that he is. That he keeps his word is illustrated 
by his refusal, in spite of all pressure, to run for the 
presidency a second time. 

Carranza is a man of sturdy intellect, though he 
is not strictly of the "intellectual class," as it is 
understood in Latin-America. He is rather of the 
country gentleman type. However, he is a well- 
educated man. He reads the classics and delights 
in them. He is especially well versed in history. 
He knows not only every detail of the history of 
his own country, but he is well read in the history 
of ancient peoples and the development of modem 
states. From the standpoint of his gentlemanly 



WHAT KIND OF MAN IS CARRANZA? 115 

appearance and accomplishments, he would be as 
much at home in the White House at Washington 
as President Wilson would be in visiting the 
National Palace in Mexico. 

What is President Carranza religiously? It is 
difficult to say. I suppose that he would say to 
the census-taker that he is a Catholic. Some 
have thought that he is a Protestant, because of 
his friendship toward the Protestant schools and 
his fondness for appointing Protestants to office. 
But he probably is neither a Protestant nor a 
Catholic, as these bodies would define a faithful 
member. He certainly is utterly out of sympathy 
with the Roman Catholic hierarchical system and 
its endeavor to control politics. He has never 
made any kind of confession of the Protestant 
faith. He believes in God, in Christ, in the Bible, 
and in the power of the Christian Church as a 
restraining and ennobling influence in society. 
He was not in favor of the radical restrictions on 
religion in the Constitution of 191 7, and has 
recently proposed to Congress the amendment 
of these articles, as the Executive is permitted to do 
under the Mexican Constitution. Like most 
public men, he has been represented as very 
immoral in his personal life; but, having known 
him intimately for many years, knowing both his 
friends and his enemies, having taken some pains 



ii6 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

to find out what manner of man he is, I am a firm 
believer in Venustiano Carranza as a man of 
clean life, of high moral purpose, intensely devoted, 
though sometimes mistaken in policy, to the in- 
terests of his country. 



CHAPTER IV 

WHAT MEXICANS THINK OF 
AMERICANS 

In order to understand properly what Mexicans 
think of North Americans, we should inquire first 
what all Latin-Americans think of us. For, in all 
the discussion concerning the relations of the two 
countries, the fact that Mexicans are Latin- 
Americans — not Saxon-Americans — ^must be kept 
in mind. The Latin- Americans conserve two 
famous pictures of North Americans which are 
representative of the popular conceptions on the 
subject. One picture is found in a cartoon and the 
other in a poem. The cartoon, published in a 
Chilean paper, was based on the incident related 
to the collection of the Alsop claims by our State 
Department. When the time came for Chile to 
settle this account, Chile claimed she owed several 
million dollars less than the Alsop family wished to 
collect. Our State Department was asked to 
demand full payment of this sum. This Chile 
refused, but said she was willing to submit the 
matter to arbitration. The State Department said 
it was not a matter to be arbitrated, and threatened 
to withdraw our Minister immediately if the full 



ii8 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

claim was not settled. The cartoon growing out 
of this incident pictured an American as a great, 
tall, portly gentleman, with silk hat, frock coat, 
big diamond in the front of his shirt, and a gold- 
headed cane. He was saying to a little boy, "My 
son, get to thyself riches — ^with honesty, if it may 
be — but by all means get to thyself riches." This 
cartoon was applauded all over Latin- America as an 
expression of the way they look on North Americans. 
For a long time after coming into close contact 
with Latin-Americans, I resented hotly this 
accusation that we Americans cared more for the 
dollars than for anything else. But since I have 
studied the records of our State Department, 
which show how most of our dealings with those 
countries have been in connection with insuring a 
clear road for our investors, I have not found it at 
all difficult to understand the viewpoint of our 
neighbors. Some one said recently: "Don't get 
excited about our going to war with Mexico. It 
took the sinking of the Lusitania, with the loss of 
the lives of hundreds of our citizens, and a score 
of insults before we would go to war with even 
the arch-enemy of humanity, Germany." True, 
but our property interests were not at stake. 
Property has always been a most sacred thing to 
Anglo-Saxons. The loss of American lives in 
Mexico, which might be expected during so much 
fighting, will not be the reason for our intervening 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 119 

there. It may well serve as the pretext and other 
lives yet might be lost, in order so to complicate 
the situation as to compel every loyal American 
to defend with his life the honor of his country. 
But the real reason for our making war on Mexico, 
if we do, will be in order to protect American in- 
vestors. Of course the great majority of our 
people would not knowingly consent to make war 
for that reason. But it would not take a great 
deal more misrepresentation by the American press 
about the chaos that exists in Mexico than we now 
have, if there were only another sensational border 
raid or two, quite easily arranged, to make the 
majority honestly vote such a war "for the good 
of Mexico." Only years afterward, just as it has 
proved with our first war with Mexico, would we 
come to realize the injustice involved. 

The American people are as a whole, as Henri 
Bergson has recently said, the most idealistic 
people in the world. The hundred incidents, 
where the power of this great nation has been put 
behind our investors in forcing certain actions on 
Latin-American governments, have never been 
heard of by one-tenth of one per cent of our peo- 
ple and they do not represent the majority. But 
these acts have had the same drastic effect and 
have given rise to the same hatred and suspicion 
ojF our whole people, as if they had been voted 
for by every American citizen. Of course such 



120 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

incidents do not appear in our literature, save in 
dusty archives. But let one talk with Latin- 
Americans and read their "best sellers" and he will 
be astounded at references to scores of these mat- 
ters, concerning which he has never heard. 

President Wilson has intimated something of 
the effects of this diplomacy in the following words : 

"There is one peculiarity about the history of the 
Latin-American States of which I am sure they are 
keenly aware. You hear of 'concessions* to foreign 
capitalists in Latin- America. You do not hear of 
concessions granted to foreign capitalists in the 
United States. They are not granted concessions. 
They are invited to make investments. The 
work is ours, though they are welcome to invest in 
it. We do not ask them to supply the capital and 
do the work. It is an invitation, not a privilege; 
and states that are obliged, because their territory 
does not lie within the main field of modem enter- 
prise and action, to grant concessions are in this 
condition, that foreign interests are apt to dominate 
their domestic affairs, a condition of affairs always 
dangerous and apt to become intolerable.'^ 

It was this intolerable dominance of foreign 
capitalists in the affairs of Latin-Americans that 
caused Rub6n Dario, the greatest of Latin- 
American poets, to write the poem to which I 
have referred. A few lines of this poem follow: 

" 'Tis only with the Bible and Walt Whitman's 
verse, 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 121 

That you the mighty hunter are reached by other 
men. 

You're primitive and modern, you're simple and 
complex, 

A veritable Nimrod, with aught of Washington. 

You are the United States. ' 

You are the future foe 

Of free America that keeps its Indian blood, 

That prays to Jesus Christ, and speaks in 
Spanish still. 

You are a fine example of a strong and haughty 
race. . . 

The United States are rich ; they're powerful and 
great; 

They join the cult of Mammon or that of Her- 
cules, 

And when they stir or roar the very Andes 
shake. . . 

And though you count on all, one thing is lack- 
ing-God l"i 

Manuel Ugarte, in his book, "El Porvenir de 
la America Latina", says: 

"It is evident that nothing attracts us toward 
our neighbors of the north. By her origin, her 
education, and her spirit, South America is essen- 
tially European. We feel ourselves akin to Spain, 
to whom we owe our civilization, and whose fire 
we carry in our blood ; to France, source and origin 
of the thought that animates us; to England, who 
sends us her gold freely ; to Germany, who supplies 
us with her manufactures ; and to Italy, who gives 

1 Version of E. C. Hills. 



122 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

us the arms of her sons to wrest from the soil the 
wealth which is to distribute itself over the world. 
But to the United States we are united by no ties 
but those of distrust and fear." 

Calder6n, the ambassador of Peru to France, 
in his book "Latin America, Its Rise and Progress," 
referring to Pan-American Congresses, says: 

"The Iberian nations confess publicly their 
enthusiasm for Pan- Americanism, as does the 
Yankee Republic its spiritual enthusiasm. Pla- 
tonic declarations are succeeded by useless prom- 
ises. The desired fusion of Saxons and Latins does 
not advance. In Buenos Aires, Americo Lugo, a 
delegate from the Plains, denounces the expansion 
of the North. In dailies and magazines, eloquent 
thinkers condemn these rhetorical organizations 
which preach union while Saxon ambition dis- 
members Panama, agitates Nicaragua, and over- 
turns Mexico. . . Will they not be able to 
make a declaration in the future limiting the 
amount of European capital which can be invested 
in each republic, or determine the numerical 
importance of the current of immigration? Thus 
successful, they would impose on free peoples a 
hard tutelage. For moral suasion they will sub- 
stitute an imperative catechism." 

Those words, of course, were written before the 
World War. I must say that in my last trip 
through South America, in 191 7, I found a change 
in her attitude toward us, largely due, of course, to 
our entrance into the War. Latin-Americans 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 123 

now say: "For the first time in your history, we 
see that you are idealistic. We see that you have 
been willing to renounce certain profits on muni- 
tions and other things, in order that you might go 
into a war to make the world safe for democracy." 
When in Chile, in 19 14, I heard on every 
hand unpleasant references to the United States. 
The students of the universities were particularly 
hostile. This time, when I called upon a professor 
in the National University, I was asked to address 
one of his English classes and later on, another, 
till I found myself giving a whole morning of talks. 
These led to a conference at one of the big theaters, 
secured for the occasion by the university students. 
The theme they wanted me to discuss was, 'llow 
to Develop Closer Relations between the United 
States and Chile." At the close of the lecture a full 
hour was spent answering their eager and pointed 
questions. I spoke very frankly, analyzing the 
good and bad in the Anglo-Saxon and the Latin, 
pointing out why each had failed to understand the 
other in the past. That session with these bril- 
liant young people was a most delightful experi- 
ence. Their hunger for knowledge of North 
American life, particularly concerning our uni- 
versities, was amazing and refreshing. 

In Pernambuco I met accidentally the director 
of the law school that has trained the leaders of 
northern Brazil for half a century. He invited 



124 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

me to give an address to the students on "Closer 
Intellectual Relationships between the Two Ameri- 
cas/' This occasion became quite a demonstration 
of international friendliness, the official life of the 
city being represented. 

In Paraguay our party of four North Americans 
was taken in hand by the National Director of 
Public Instruction, our entertainment being di- 
rected by the Government. These people showed 
in many ways their real desire for friendship with 
the United States. 

The following editorial, published July 4, 191 7, 
in a leading daily of Buenos Aires, shows what the 
entrance of the United States into the War did 
toward changing this attitude: 

"The circumstances in which we find ourselves 
today on this anniversary of the North American 
nation serve to define a double principle of 
Americanism and democracy. This celebration in 
other years has been an occasion for rejoicing only 
for the United States. She could with patriotic 
joy stop in her march and contemplate with 
satisfaction the road traveled since the days of 
that memorable declaration. . . Other people 
joined the celebration with a cordiality more official 
and diplomatic than real. 

Today all is different. The United States, by 
the power of that great republican virtue which is 
the supporter of the right, is for the whole world 
not only a nation engaged in a knightly war, but an 
apostle in action. Some four years ago the Latin 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 125 

author, Rub6n Dario, was able to say, led astray 
by superficial observations, that the United States, 
which had everything, lacked but one thing — God. 
Today this can not be said, for the crusade of the 
United States and the serene and eloquent words 
of Wilson have a religious character, now that they 
intimate the abandonment and disregard of mate- 
rial interests in the face of the defense of the ideal. 

Quietly, without the sound of trumpets or noise, 
the United States has entered the contest, and 
thus it returns to noble France the generous contri- 
bution of that great Frenchman, Lafayette, the 
American national hero. If America stands for 
anything in the world and in history, it is liberty. 
Other peoples have been formed by reason of con- 
quest, or of religion, but the Americans were born 
out of the idea of liberty.- In this sentiment is 
found the unity of San Martin, Bolivar, and 
Washington. It matters little that history regis- 
ters this or that disturbance, and this or that 
variation. That is the sentiment, and that is 
the thing that, after conquering all cruel tyrannies 
and retrogressive seditions, has overcome all. 

So in the awful conflict which today is shaking 
the world, the United States is bearing the burden 
of all America, because she is on the side of liberty. 
She is the big sister in years and in power among 
the American nations. This place belongs to her, 
and worthily has she taken it." 

For the first time in the history of a South 
American nation, Brazil openly declared that the 
prime reason for her taking a serious political step 
was to follow the leadership of the United States. 



126 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

In her note to the other South American powers, 
announcing the breaking of relationships with 
Germany, she said : 

"Brazil has never had, nor has it now, warlike 
ambitions. If it has heretofore abstained from 
taking sides in the European conflict, it has not 
been able to continue indifferent since the United 
States has been drawn into the War without any- 
further motives than simply those of action in the 
name of international justice and order. . . If 
up to the present the relative lack of reciprocity 
on the part of the American republics has deprived 
the Monroe Doctrine of its real character, permit- 
ting an interpretation scarcely founded on the 
prerogative of sovereignty, the present conditions 
place Brazil at the side of the United States of 
America at this critical moment in the history 
of the world, and continue to give our political 
relationships a practical form of continental 
solidarity." 

In the same way Panama, in its recent declara- 
tion of war, said that, "Neutrality is impossible in 
a conflict where the vital interests of the United 
States are involved," and Cuba, Bolivia, Paraguay, 
and other countries have given voice to similar 
sentiments. 

The recent visit of the North American fleet 
under the command of Admiral Caperton to 
South American waters has promoted these 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 127 

friendly relations in a remarkable way. In order 
that the fleet might visit Montevideo when Uru- 
guay had not yet broken relations with the Cen- 
tral Powers, the Government promulgated the 
following special decree, which will no doubt be of 
great weight in future international relationships 
in America: "It is hereby declared that no Ameri- 
can nation will be considered as a belligerent which 
is in a state of war in defense of its rights against 
any nation outside of America." 

So Latin-Americans have been turned to us in a 
new and remarkable way in the last two years. 
They are now keenly interested to see whether we 
will continue to show our idealism or whether we 
will be encouraged by our remarkable military 
victory to drop into a still more threatening atti- 
tude toward our small neighbors. Those living in 
the United States are already becoming impressed 
by the talk like the following, which is all too 
common: "Oh, it was all right during the War, 
when we needed to arouse patriotism, to talk of 
fighting to make the world safe for Democracy. 
But that was only a war cry. We all know we 
were in the War to protect ourselves." If we are 
to slip down into materialism, take advantage of 
our power to exploit others, plan intervention in 
the affairs of our next-door neighbor, and throw 
our oppressive hand over Latin- America, then we 
can not expect anything but that Latin-America 



128 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

will swing again in opposition to us, and, of course, 
the last state will be worse than the first. 

Turning directly to the Latin-American country 
we are now discussing, Mexico, let us take first a 
brief glance at the historic relations with our next- 
door neighbor, considering first those of a diplo- 
matic character. At the beginning these promised 
to be cordial from our standpoint, for we sympa- 
thized with the youthful republic to the south that 
had recently thrown off the Spanish yoke. But 
from the other side there were certain disadvan- 
tages. Spanish colonies had not been allowed to 
trade with any countries except Spain. Both the 
Government and the Church wanted to keep out 
outside influence; they did not want the status quo 
of the people to be disturbed ; so no new thoughts 
or heretical ideas of government, especially from 
the United States, were allowed to enter. Our 
first diplomatic representative to Mexico, Joel R. 
Poinsett, appointed in 1825, accordingly had a 
difficult position. Fortunately he was a cultured 
gentleman, spoke Spanish as well as the Mexicans 
themselves, and was a polished diplomat. But in 
the maze of Mexican politics he made wrong 
impressions, came to be regarded with suspicion, 
and in a little while withdrew, leaving a great deal 
of prejudice against the United States and a 
feeling that some day Mexico would have to 
fight us. 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 129 

Our second minister, Anthony Butler, was a 
bluffer and a rascal. He was found to be inter- 
ested in some lands over in Texas at the same time 
that he was proposing to Mexico that the United 
States should buy that state. He insisted on this 
transaction a good while after Mexico gave him to 
understand that it was not acceptable. His 
troubles thickened and finally, after insulting a 
Mexican cabinet ofhcer, he retired in disgrace, it 
having been proved in both Mexico and the 
United States that he was absolutely dishonest. 
About 1835 and 1836, there developed certain 
claims by Americans on account of the destruction 
of American property by Mexicans during inces- 
sant political turmoil. President Jackson asked 
for a commission to be appointed to adjust mat- 
ters. This commission was appointed and worked 
five or six years without getting much satisfaction, 
Mexico blocking the matter with many diplomatic 
maneuvers. 

The separation of Texas from Mexico came in 
1836. Though the United States was not responsi- 
ble for this, Mexico naturally thought she was, 
inasmuch as Texas was largely settled by United 
States citizens. After refuting the charges specifi- 
cally, Daniel Webster said: "The conduct of the 
Government of the United States, in regard to the 
war between Mexico and Texas, having always 
hitherto been governed by a strict and impartial 



I30 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

regard to its neutral obligations, will not be 
changed or altered in any respect or in any degree." 
If the United States had the best of that diplo- 
matic bout, it was far different in the next, which 
resulted in Tyler's annexation treaty with Texas. 

Shannon, our next minister, went down with the 
difficult duty of informing Mexico concerning this 
fact. He was a first-class politician at home, but 
no diplomat for a foreign land. He so bungled his 
mission that one of the papers of the United States 
called for his return home that it might measure 
his ears to see how long they were. The Mexican 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, an artist in framing 
phrases, after putting poor Shannon in the most 
ridiculous light, caused Mexico to break off rela- 
tions fair and square with the United States. So 
ended the first chapter, with little satisfaction on 
either side. Then came the Mexican War. This 
was the most unfortunate event in all our national 
life. Most of our historians agree that the Mexi- 
can War was an unjust, unfair, political contest. 
We took about one-half of Mexico's territory, for 
which we paid $15,000,000. A little later we 
bought more territory for $10,000,000 to add to 
what had been taken. That war, of course, was 
the greatest of all the causes of the distrust of the 
United States on the part of Mexico. 

Relations did not improve greatly between the 
two countries following the war, until Lincoln 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 131 

came into the presidency. He instructed our 
minister to go to Mexico and show an attitude of 
cordiality, frankness, friendship, and even mag- 
nanimity. At that time Juarez was making his 
tremendous struggles against the reactionary 
forces, and disorder reigned in Mexico. Later 
Maximilian, supported by the French Emperor 
and the Papacy, endeavored to establish his 
empire. Juarez vigorously opposed this effort. 

After the close of the Civil War, the Monroe 
Doctrine was invoked by Secretary of State Seward 
who informed Napoleon that his French troops 
must be retired, and they were. For that reason, 
Juarez was able to conquer Maximilian, regain 
the Mexican capital, and restore the national gov- 
ernment. Thus the United States enabled Mexico 
to save herself from foreign domination at the 
only time when she was seriously threatened. This 
was a big, fine service, the bright and shining 
star in the clouded sky of our relationships. Mexi- 
cans are profoundly appreciative of it. 

Following Juarez came Diaz with his endeavor 
to bring into Mexico foreign capital, especially 
American. Some English capital had been in- 
vested in Mexico already. Beginning in 1824, 
John Taylor had appealed in an interesting pamph- 
let to the British public for such investment. The 
first railroad in Mexico was built by British capital 
from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. 



132 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

When the question arose of allowing American 
capital to build railroads connecting Mexico with 
the United States, there was serious consideration 
of the matter, which shows that dread of the over- 
whelming strength of the United States which has 
always possessed the Mexican mind. Don Pablo 
Macedo, in his book on "Mexico and the United 
States" tells of the conferences which preceded the 
adoption of the railroad policy in Mexico. He says : 

"In deciding on the gauge the truth is that the 
question was discussed, whether or not they should 
accept the gauge adopted by their neighbors of the 
Northern Republic. It was a consideration of the 
gravest moment, and transcended all others. No 
one, and still less statesmen of the status of Senor 
Lerdo de Tejada, has ever been blind to the danger 
that we run from the nearness of our colossal 
neighbor on the north. In comparison with the 
United States — more's the pity — we must confess 
that we then figured, and we still do, as a mere pig- 
my. Besides this the sad memory of the iniquitous 
war of 1847, which cost us the half of our territory, 
is more than enough cause to excite uneasiness and 
even dread. Such apprehension is certainly not 
unreasonable or groundless. As a consequence, 
the distinct object of our international policy has 
necessarily always been, in the first place, to grow 
by natural expansion, to fortify our national organ- 
isms, and then to seek from the other side of the 
Atlantic a support which alone can be efficacious 
by creating, acclimatizing, and strengthening 
European interests and elements. Unfortunately, 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 133 

the unjustifiable French intervention, obliging us 
to sustain a war a Voutrance in order to preserve 
our very existence as a nation, interrupted our 
organic development, and not only weakened our 
position, physically, through the material sacrifices 
which we had to make, but morally, by creating 
divisions greater than had previously existed. The 
blood of Maximilian created an abyss between 
Europe and Mexico. His death, though it may 
have been the only means, sad as it was, of securing 
internal peace, estranged the sympathies of those 
nations which then exercised preponderating in- 
fluence in Europe.^' 

Although we did not recognize the Diaz Gov- 
ernment for two years, he did not hold that 
against us, and his invitation to American capital 
and American missionaries soon put the two 
countries on the most cordial terms they had ever 
enjoyed. We built railroads and opened mines, 
and for twenty-five years we had very cordial re- 
lations with Mexico, at least as far as diplomacy 
was concerned. Then came the turbulent time of 
recent years, beginning with the Madero Revolu- 
tion in 1 9 10, since which our diplomacy has been 
turned topsy turvy. 

Without taking into account the last few years, 
we can see by the review of the hundred years 
preceding that relations have been a series of mis- 
understandings. I have already referred to the 
struggle of the financial interests of the United 



134 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

States and England over oil wells in Mexico, 
Madero favoring American interests and Diaz 
favoring English interests, and the fact that this 
feeling was so acute that some people thought that 
it was the whole explanation of the fight between 
Madero and Diaz. Our diplomatic relations suf- 
fered no break during that revolution and con- 
tinued cordial on into Madero's presidency, 
although the latter claimed that our ambassador, 
Henry Lane Wilson, was in sympathy with the 
reactionaries. 

In February, 1913, Felix Diaz and Bernardo 
Reyes broke jail in Mexico City, where they had 
been imprisoned as leaders of a rebellion against 
Madero, and placed themselves at the head of the 
rebel forces representing the old Diaz group. 
Huerta was entrusted with the command of the 
Madero troops. In order to stop the fighting, 
which continued for ten days, a conference was 
held in the American Embassy with the American 
Ambassador present, and Huerta agreed to turn 
traitor to Madero, who was made prisoner and 
afterward shot. For his part in this diabolical 
affair, Henry Lane Wilson was recalled, and the 
United States did not appoint until 191 8 our next 
ambassador, the efficient Mr. Fletcher, who is 
still at his post. 

If our diplomatic relations with the Diaz r6gime 
were very smooth, the Mexican people were led in 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 135 

many cases to dislike the American more than 
ever because the latter seemed to be receiving all 
the favors. Take the case of the railroads. When 
the United States built the Mexican railroads, the 
Americans went over to run them. For a long 
time all the engineers, conductors, brakemen, and 
firem.en were Americans, while the Mexicans were 
used only in inferior positions. But the time 
came when the Mexicans wanted better places. 
They had learned in the shops how to run engines 
and wanted the jobs. The Americans naturally 
wanted to retain their positions and claimed that 
Mexicans did not have sufficient intelligence and 
training to carry the responsibilities. The Ameri- 
cans refused to have train orders given them ex- 
cept in the English language. When the Mexican 
Government finally bought fifty-one per cent of 
the stock they took the stand that, when a Mexi- 
can and an American* were equally qualified for a 
position, the Mexican should have it. The Ameri- 
cans resigned in a body, two or three thousand of 
them leaving on the same day for the United 
States. Much hard feeling was engendered over 
this struggle. The Mexicans, on the one hand, 
thought they had more reason than ever for charg- 
ing the Americans with selfishness, and the Ameri- 
cans, on the other, came to have less confidence 
than ever in the country and its people. 



136 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Unfortunately, one source of prejudice against 
us is the number of Americans who are living in 
Mexico because they could not live in the United 
States. We have had a great many Americans who 
could not explain why they were in Mexico. Natu- 
rally, they do not contribute anything to close 
friendship between the two peoples. I was on the 
train recently with an American who was telling 
about Americans being persecuted and ill-treated 
everywhere in Mexico. The tourists were taking it 
all in until he came to American politics. But 
there he showed he had entirely missed all that 
the modem world is teaching. His listeners saw 
immediately that he was hopelessly reactionary. 
But as long as he was discussing the Mexican ques- 
tion the people were taking it for granted he was 
an absolute authority on the subject, for he had 
lived there. Even our magazines publish articles 
written by such men who know nothing of national 
development in their own country or any other, 
have no historic background whatever, and look 
at the whole matter from the standpoint of 
whether their countrymen in Mexico have as good 
jobs as formerly. 

This and kindred matters are well interpreted 
from the standpoint of the Mexicans by May 
Austin, who says: 

"The items of the Constitutionalists' program at 
which vested interests take alarm are, of course, 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 137 

the reform of mining and land laws and the land 
tax system. Mexico in the past has been not only 
the land of poco tiempo, but the paradise of special 
privilege. And the man who has looked upon 
Mexico as a place to make twenty-five per cent 
on his investment is the one who thinks that the 
only thing we can do is to go in there and run 
things ourselves. 

Such people are always in a hurry. They don't 
know that a reconstructed Mexico will be any the 
worse for their business, but they don't want to 
take time to readjust themselves, to learn to 
operate under a new system. In their hurry these 
absentee investors are supported by the Americans 
who live in Mexico and work their properties them- 
selves, who, without having any particular quarrel 
with the revolutionists, are impatient at the delays 
and vexations which keep them from their means 
of making a living. These people differ in their 
ideas of how the pacification of Mexico can be best 
accomplished, but they all agree in one thing — they 
want it done quickly, and if that is the quickest 
way they are willing it should be done with a sand- 
bag. Their chief objection to the Carranza way is 
that it will take time. And to the prevailing 
American cult of 'right now' this appears a reason- 
able objection. 

We hear a great deal of the disqualification of the 
Mexican temperament for dealing with national 
values, its incontinence, its quick shifts of enthu- 
siasm. But there is a much greater menace to the 
situation in the American temperament, with its 
impatience of delay, its refusal to deal with condi- 
tions a little less than obvious. 



138 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

It is true that the terms on which mines and 
plantations can be worked in Mexico are not going 
to be quite the same under the Carrancistas. The 
whole tenor of the new laws, too complex to go 
into in detail, is to make it unprofitable to hold 
unworked mining claims and uncultivated lands. 
This is true not only for foreign investors, but for 
their own capitalists also. Wages and taxes are 
both going to be higher. Wages and taxes will go 
up with the process of nationalization. And 
whether or not the present regime maintains it- 
self, it is highly desirable that the process of 
nationalization should go on in Mexico. 

It must always be borne in mind that what has 
been going on there is an economic revolution. 
The Constitutionalists are men who have learned 
by heart the lesson that national wealth doesn't 
necessarily imply national welfare. That was the 
mistake Diaz made. That he made it with a 
degree of sincerity did not keep him from the 
unpleasant consequences of his people's finding 
out that it was a mistake. There are not wanting 
signs that even America is not as satisfied with her 
apportionment of wealth and welfare as she used 
to be. It will come as a shock in some quarters, 
but it has to be admitted that First Chief Car- 
ranza and his compadres don't want our system 
foisted upon Mexico, because they jolly well 
don't approve." 

The uncouth tourist Is another sort of American 
who has certainly done his part to prejudice Mexi- 
cans against us. Stories like the following could 
be duplicated by the scores by the average Mexi- 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 139 

can. Two tourists, walking by a magnificent 
Mexican home which, as usual, is built right up 
to the sidewalk, see the front door open and a 
piano inside. They walk in and look around and 
then sit down and play the piano, talking all the 
time of how surprised they are to see that Mexicans 
have pianos and never supposing that their English 
is understood by the cultured but enraged lady of 
the house, whom they had not deigned to notice. 
An American woman of a rather confirmed bru- 
nette type was standing in her window opening 
on the sidewalk and several tourists stopped and 
looked her over, making all kind of remarks about 
her clothes, house, and other things, supposing, 
that, of course, no one in that far-off country spoke 
English. Just as I am writing these lines a friend 
tells me of returning from Mexico with some 
American tourists, who as a part of a commercial 
excursion, had been entertained in a most elabo- 
rate manner by Government and people in all 
parts of the Republic. The train arrived at the 
border station on the return to the United States 
about 2 a. m., but passengers were allowed to stay 
in the Pullman till daylight. They were awakened, 
however, by a loud-voiced tourist calling for a 
corkscrew. He was very much put out by the 
Mexican porter's slowness in producing it, and in 
tones that all the passengers, many of them cul- 
tured Mexicans who speak English, could hear, he 



140 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

said to his companion: "There are two things I 
could never understand why the Lord made — 
mosqultos and Mexicans." 

The ill treatment received by Mexicans in this 
country is another thing which has thrown doubt 
in the Mexican mind on our protestations of 
democracy. The difficulty with which these peo- 
ple, who live in large numbers in the southwest, 
get justice in our courts, schooling for their chil- 
dren, and any kind of social life, is more fully 
known to their compatriots in Mexico than it is 
to American people who do not live in the midst 
of these conditions. 

Reference has already been made to the preju- 
dice and even hatred engendered in the Mexicans 
by the misrepresentations of the American press 
and by addresses of our public men. Everyone 
who speaks publicly on Mexico in this country 
should realize that his utterances will be reported 
in Mexico and, if offensive, will be played up by 
interested parties in the most prominent way. A 
slightly different angle of this question is seen in 
the discussions recently in Congress and our 
papers concerning our buying of Lower California 
and the Mexicans' selling land to the Japanese. 
The first is, as Ambassador Bonillas said, not long 
ago, like the story of the bells. The citizens of a 
certain town got very much excited over the dis- 
cussion as to whether the bells should be rung as 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 141 

a part of a celebration planned. "But," said some- 
one, finally, "there are no bells in the town." Why 
should Congressmen continue to talk about buy- 
ing Lower California, when Mexico will not sell 
it? We estimate the Mexican very wrongly when 
we think he cares more for money than for national 
honor. The latter is the dearest possession he has. 
Granted that his interpretation of it doesn't 
always agree with ours, it is there, however, and 
our failure to recognize it explains why we have 
so often failed in our diplomacy. Among all the 
crimes of Santa Anna, none looms so large to the 
average Mexican as his selling us a part of what is 
now Texas. Recent political storms would be 
like a summer zephyr compared with the one that 
would be started by the proposal of the authorities 
to sell any of their national territory, and neither 
Carranza nor any other leader would dare propose 
such a thing even if he should desire it. 

The same statement applies to the matter of 
selling land that would give the Japanese Govern- 
ment power in Mexico. There is a clause in the 
Constitution which prevents selling land, within 
one hundred kilometers of the border, to foreign- 
ers. This whole matter of Mexico's reported ten- 
dency to ally herself with Japan is one of those 
things which make fine publicity material for cer- 
tain American interests, but have no basis in fact. 
There are less than 3,000 Japanese in Mexico and 



142 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

no proof whatever has been produced that the 
Mexican Government has ever had secret dealings 
with the Japanese Government in order to give 
it special privileges in America. Such stories are 
tremendously annoying to Mexicans, who believe 
it is an evidence of the American's lack of honor 
that he will attack the good name of a neighbor in 
order to carry his own point in politics. 

Many times when we have tried to help the 
Mexican he has thought we were trying to insult 
him. The psychology of the two peoples is so dif- 
ferent — ^the American, worships truth and action, 
the Mexican politeness and form. The "naked 
truth" of the Saxon must be dressed to become 
attractive to the Latin, and the "brutal frankness" 
of the former is more of a crime to the latter than 
is a friendly deception. In the mouth of a Mexi- 
can the famous expression of Clay might become: 
"I had rather be polite than President." He likes 
you if you are "simpdtico" appreciative of his 
feelings and accomplishments, kind to his family, 
polite to his friends, and if you enthuse over his 
country and respect his ^^dignidad" personal and 
national. "Dignidad" is his own greatest posses- 
sion. Failure to respect it is the explanation of 
the failure of many a well-intentioned effort of 
Americans to help him. Witness the failure of our 
Red Cross expedition, blocked everywhere be- 
cause the Mexican would rather starve than have 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 143 

his starving condition advertised to the world in 
an appeal for funds to help him. The American 
Commissioners at Atlantic City got nowhere, in 
spite of their earnest desire to help Mexico, be- 
cause the Mexicans could do nothing to remedy 
practical conditions until national "dignidad" was 
saved by the removal of foreign troops from their 
soil. Politeness and sympathy, with respect for 
his dignity, will open any door of the Mexican. 
But he had rather starve himself and his family 
and let his whole country go to rack and ruin 
than "receive charity." The big-hearted, loud- 
voiced, insistent, efficient foreign philanthropist 
has no place in Mexico. 

Calder6n puts the matter thus : 

"There is nothing more difficult to manage than 
the amour propre of the nations of the south, who 
look upon any kind of interference as a menace to 
their independence. They would choose anarchy, 
destruction even, rather than suffer the unlawful 
intrusion of any foreign power which ventured to 
interfere in the internal affairs of a free country. 
North Americans have often forgotten this atti- 
tude of their 'brothers' of the south. Likewise, 
with no consideration for their tempestuous pride, 
they have carried their influence in southern 
matters to the point of provoking violent outbursts 
of nationalism. They make parade of their 
superiority, and the South Americans, proud of 
their traditions and their ancient cities, revolt 



144 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

angrily against the wise counsels of the protecting 
nation. 

Like all Latins, the South Americans have a 
feeling for form and respect for the proprieties. 
They are naturally subtle and Byzantine. Nothing 
ruffles them more than the rudeness of Washington 
politicians, who scarcely take pains to disguise a 
certain contempt for these inferior and turbulent 
peoples. Mr. Roosevelt cynically says, 'I took 
Panama*. He believes in the efficacy of the 'big 
stick' in the relations between the two Americas. 
He is scarcely a psychologist in these matters. It 
is far easier to get what one wants from these Latin 
democracies through flattering proposals, through 
courteous replies, through a delicate, nicely- 
shaded diplomacy." 

Probably the one thing that irritates the edu- 
cated Mexican more than all other things about 
our attitude is the general failure to recognize that 
Mexico has its cultured classes, who are as well 
educated and have as beautiful homes and as fine 
a social life as will be found in any part of the 
world. They think the American is very unfair in 
judging all Mexicans by the peon workman that 
ordinarily emigrates to this country. 

In fact, when one counts up all the grievances 
that Mexicans have against Americans, the ex- 
ploiting of the people by certain American capi- 
talists, the insults from Americans living in and 
outside the country, the continuous misrepresen- 
tation by our press, and many other things, he is 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 145 

surprised that there is as much friendship for 
Americans as there Is. But this is because he has 
forgotten the other side of the shield of relations. 
The thousands of good Americans who have Hved 
in Mexico, learned the language of the people, 
come to appreciate their good points, made the 
most intimate friendships with Mexicans, and 
publicly declare they had rather live in Mexico 
than any other country in the world, have done 
more than it is possible to estimate to offset the 
bad impressions already referred to. Many Ameri- 
can firms and individual business men have been 
real missionaries to the people, with their intro- 
duction of better wages, improved machinery, wel- 
fare work, schools, and better housing for their 
employes. It has become pretty general that 
Mexicans prefer to work for American firms and 
under American foremen, because they are more 
sure of right treatment than under their own 
people. 

The American school teachers who have been 
unselfishly working in many parts of the country 
for many years have done much to show the Mexi- 
cans that Americans generally are a likable, sympa- 
thetic people and entirely desirous of maintaining 
friendly relations with their neighbors. Then the 
fact that our Government has not intervened in 
Mexico, when many of the Mexicans themselves 
recognize there was sufficient excuse from the 



146 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

standpoint of European governments, has counter- 
acted much of the harm of intervention talk. 

These things explain the reason for such a state- 
ment as the following by Senor Pasqueira, one of 
the Constitutionalist leaders: 

"Some of the press would have the public believe 
that there exists a sentiment of underlying hos- 
tility towards Americans. That is untrue. 
Throughout the country Americans are held in 
higher esteem than any other class of foreigners, 
and the laborer will invariably seek employment 
from them rather than from Europeans, not be- 
cause they pay higher wages, but because of their 
reputation for fair treatment; and I venture to 
assert, on the highest authority, that since this war 
began, not one American citizen has lost his life 
because of his nationality. Some have been killed 
in personal quarrels and barroom brawls, such as 
take place daily in New York, for instance ; some 
have been killed because of their presence in the 
line of fire during engagements, and some have 
been murdered by thieves. But I repeat that no 
persons have been killed because they were 
Americans. The Constitutionalists, I may add, 
entertain a deep appreciation of the kindly senti- 
ments that their cause has awakened among the 
thoughtful people of the United States, to whom 
treason was ever odious and to whom constitu- 
tional rights are so dear. We appreciate, too, the 
spirit of fairness that led the President to raise the 
embargo on the exportation of arms and munitions 
of war, and if we have not demonstrated our 
gratitude, it is because there has been no fitting 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 147 

opportunity to do so. Nor have we Mexicans for- 
gotten Seward and the degree of moral support he 
gave President Juarez in his noble struggle for 
democratic government against the reactionaries 
who sought to impose on Mexico a monarchy." 

The best judgment of reliable Americans and 
my own experience during the Revolution agree 
entirely with the above statement, that neither 
Carranza nor his responsible officers have ever 
attacked or persecuted Americans because they 
were Americans. 

There were two instances during the Revolution 
of Americans being turned upon. First, Villa 
singled out the Americans for attack, after we had 
carried him around on our shoulders as a great 
hero for months and then had turned against him 
in favor of Carranza. Nothing else could have 
been expected from one of his low instincts. The 
other instance of hostility to Americans was the 
general order which Huerta gave at the time of 
our taking Vera Cruz, to have all Americans in 
Mexico arrested. Many outstanding Americans, 
including our consular officers, were thrown into 
jail and kept there until released by Carranza 
authorities, who afterward captured the towns 
where they were imprisoned. 

General Hanna, Consul General for northern 
Mexico, told me how he was seized by the Huerta 
authorities in Monterrey and at first was made to 



148 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

walk through the streets toward the penitentiary. 
The poor people, whom he had befriended so 
many times, giving them food and clothing and 
much other help, risked their Hves by demanding 
that the miHtary forces at least get a carriage for 
the general. When he was taken to the state pri- 
son the old keeper blazed out in anger, saying 
to the general's captors, "This is no place for Gen- 
eral Hanna. He is one of my dearest friends, as he 
IS the friend of every Mexican. I will not receive 
him in this penitentiary. You must find another 
place if you want to put him in prison." The gen- 
eral was therefore taken to the new state house, 
where he occupied a magnificent reception hall as 
his prison. While the room was very beautiful, it 
was not entirely comfortable, since there were 
mounted above him a number of cannon, and the 
enemy was trying to dislodge them with artillery 
from the nearby hills. This lasted only a few 
hours, however, when the Huerta forces withdrew 
and the revolutionists came in and occupied the 
city. He was left practically the sole occupant 
of the state house for several hours. Thus origi- 
nated the story that General Hanna was threat- 
ened with death, and a few hours later was made 
governor of the state. 

The few Americans who were in the City of 
San Luis Potosi gathered in the English consulate. 
For two or three days they were hissed at when 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 149 

they went along the streets, and the cry of "Mueran 
los gringos" was frequently heard. Reports were 
circulated that several Americans had been shot, 
and terror reigned in the whole colony for three 
days. However, it turned out that none had been 
hurt. This was the only time when the Americans 
in San Luis felt in danger. 

No American who has been through the Revolu- 
tion and seen many homes of his fellow-citizens 
broken up and many families lose their all and 
have to make their way to the United States on 
charity funds, or who sees them today still in 
Mexico, old and broken with hope gone, can help 
sympathizing most profoundly with such suffering. 
But as one reads history, he cannot fail to realize 
also that they are not unique among those whom 
war has overtaken, either in a foreign land or in 
their own. 

Much has been made of a list of 285 Americans 
killed in Mexico from 1910 to 191 6. We mourn 
the loss of this large number of fellow-countrymen. 
But that list does not prove at all that there has 
been any hostility to Americans as Americans by 
the government, which after so many years of 
fighting, and often of chaos and anarchy, has 
finally come into power. When we are considering 
the killing of these 285 Americans during six years 
of terrible civil war, it would be well to remember 
that in the year 191 8 in this great country of ours 



150 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

more than lOO people were lynched, many of 
whom have later been shown to be innocent of 
any crime. In the same connection, too, we may 
well consider the following facts brought out by 
George Marvin in an article in World's Work. In 
discussing the ill treatment of Mexicans in Texas 
and the matter of bandits on both sides of the 
international border, he says: 

"Before the Army took over the job, the border- 
land was patrolled by rangers. Some of these 
rangers have degenerated into common man- 
killers. There is no penalty for killing, for no jury 
along the border would ever convict a white man 
for shooting a Mexican. Their ranks are swelled 
by so-called deputy sheriffs. Some of these men 
are responsible citizens, but others are unstrung 
gunmen, who are just as much a menace to the 
peace and good order of the borderland as are the 
bandits for whose extinction they exist. 

The killing of Mexicans that has been going on 
through the borderland in these last four years is 
almost incredible. General Carranza still wants 
to know if we have done anything about bringing 
to trial the executioners of 1 14 Mexicans believed 
to have been innocently killed on our side of the 
line. But there are a great many more than 114 
Mexicans good and bad lying dead, and some of 
them unburied, north of the line. Reading over 
the Secret Service records makes you feel almost as 
though there were an open game season on Mexi- 
cans along the border. Underneath all, a racial 
prejudice exists fully as strong as the Negro situa- 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 151 

tion in our southeastern states, and on top of that 
you must put the irresponsibility of sheriffs, 
deputies, and rangers. 

The disgraceful truth persists that a great many 
so-called bandits are and have been for a long time 
very useful agents in smuggling operations. Some 
border Texans will tell you that a Mexican is like 
an Indian, there is no good one but a dead one. But 
Mexico and the border states contain hundreds 
and thousands of good Mexicans, a great many of 
whom have been terrorized off their thrifty farms. 
It is a great surprise to find along the border that 
very just Mexican grievances exist against us. We 
have been so occupied in cherishing our own 
grievances, and equally just injuries, that we 
haven't been able to see their Mexican corollaries." 

Passing over many other interesting phases of 
recent events which have had their effect on the 
regard of Mexicans for Americans, we come to the 
test of the World War. President Carranza took 
the attitude that the struggle was one in which 
the Mexicans should remain neutral, first because 
it did not seem to him, just as it did not seem to 
America in the beginning, to involve any question 
in which the nation had a direct interest; and 
further, because Mexico had just been through a 
long struggle, her national resources were ex- 
hausted, and she needed all her strength to restore 
her national life. There has never been any real 
evidence produced that Carranza himself deviated 
from this neutral path. He may have believed at 



152 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

one time, as some of his friends say, that Germany 
would win, and for this reason allowed his Secre- 
tary of the Interior, the editor of the official daily 
paper, and other prominent officials to display 
the friendly attitude toward Germany which has 
disgraced them. But those who know Carranza 
best do not believe that he was either pro-German 
himself or ever had any dealings with the German 
Government with a view to opposing the Allies in 
the war. 

Probably in no other country in the world, with 
the exception of Spain, was German propaganda 
so insistent. Competent authorities reckon that 
in the single matter of subsidizing twenty-three 
newspapers and supplying free news print and 
free telegraph service, $50,000 a month was spent. 
Our readers will realize in what fallow ground 
much of this propaganda fell. Full page adver- 
tisements were run, showing on the one hand what 
Mexico would lose in territory and prestige if the 
United States won and on the other hand what 
would be the advantages to Mexico in increased 
territory and commercial advantages if Germany 
won. Editorials from our papers and speeches by 
our Congressmen who favored intervention were 
translated and used to support these arguments. 

But there was a very large counter-propaganda 
by Mexicans who were friends of France and the 
United States. Practically every governor of the 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 153 

twenty-seven Mexican states was pro-Ally. Many 
movements in favor of the United States which 
have never been reported in this country were 
organized. One of the most efficient and wide- 
spread was the Allied Club, with headquarters in 
Saltillo. It counted more than 12,000 members, 
from the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo 
Leon, and Tamaulipas. Governor Mireles, of 
Coahuila, was the honorary president. A young 
Englishwoman was engaged as the secretary. The 
membership represented the leading young element 
of all of these states. They accomplished great 
good, by opening reading rooms, by supplying the 
members with correct information about Allied 
victories, and by pointing out in the clearest kind 
of way the misrepresentations of the Germans. 
When the German submarines attacked boats 
near the American coast, the club sent a letter of 
protest to our Government, signed by 2,000 peo- 
ple, offering any help that they could possibly 
give. Recognizing that Mexico was a very poor 
country and they could offer practically nothing, 
yet this club informed our Government that the 
Allied sympathizers in Mexico would undertake to 
keep order on the border of Mexico, so that the 
soldiers who were assigned to this duty might be 
released to fight for democracy in France. 

The Committee on Public Information of the 
United States did a magnificent piece of work in 



154 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Mexico. It made any American's heart swell with 
pride to go into the reading rooms they conducted 
in several of the leading cities and see the large 
number of readers, and to know of the crowds in 
the English classes taught free by many of the 
leading American women of the community. When 
the armistice was signed, the German Embassy 
endeavored to cause the impression that "Ger- 
many had presented peace to the world." But the 
Committee on Public Information never stopped 
till it had put the fact of Germany's absolute 
defeat and utter humiliation before every town 
and hamlet in the whole Republic. 

Thanks to the thorough work of the Committee 
no American ever need worry, because, as some 
have intimated in the past, the Mexicans believe 
they could whip the United States. If that de- 
ception ever existed in the minds of the Mexicans, 
it has been eradicated entirely by their thorough 
understanding of the tremendous accomplishments 
of this country in the World War. 

The work of the Committee on Public Informa- 
tion is so interesting that it is worth while to quote 
the following from its final report: 

"It is a significant fact, and one which redounds 
to the credit of the reputable, honorable journal- 
ists of Mexico, that during the war there was not a 
single newspaper or periodical in the Republic 
which pleaded the German cause that was self- 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 155 

sustaining. All were subsidized with German gold. 
On the other hand, there was not one pro-Ameri- 
can-Ally newspaper or periodical which was not 
self-sustaining. The Mexico Section, directly or 
indirectly, did not subsidize any publication. . . 
From the outset it was assumed that the Mexican 
press and public, or at least that portion of it 
which was not debauched by German money and 
German lies, was fair and receptive. This was 
almost instantaneously proved. We worked al- 
ways in the open. Official notice was served upon 
the Mexican Government of the establishment of 
the offices of the Committee in the City of Mexico 
and of the purpose of the Committee in extending 
its operations into Mexico. We hid nothing from 
public view. . .It is a source of deep satisfaction 
to be able to report that regardless of the obviously 
difficult field in which we were forced to operate, 
and the manifold opportunities which presented 
themselves for complications which, had they 
developed, would inevitably have bred embar- 
rassment both for the Committee and for our 
Government, the Mexico Section was fortunate 
enough to conclude its labors without friction with 
any of the federal, state, or local authorities of the 
Republic. . . 

Approximately 4,433,000 words of our daily 
cable service were distributed to the Mexican 
newspapers during the eleven months of the 
existence of the Mexico Section. Mimeographed 
copies of the daily despatches were prepared and a 
total of 35,000 of them were distributed in the City 
of Mexico to business firms, which displayed them 
in show windows, to the foreign legations, to 



156 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Mexican government officials, and to individuals. 
Spanish translations of special articles prepared by 
the Foreign Press Bureau of the Committee in 
New York, and made suitable by careful editing 
and revision for the Mexican field and the limited 
space of the newspapers, were sent daily to the 
sixty-five newspapers and periodicals on our list. 
The record shows that nearly sixty per cent of this 
material was used. . . To the newspapers also 
supplementary daily news letters (virtually a 
complete telegraphic service) were mailed, the 
total being 178,000. For the benefit of persons 
outside of Mexico who were interested in Mexican 
affairs it was deemed expedient, and within the 
functions of the Committee, to issue a weekly news 
bulletin in English. . . Franking privileges 
were granted by the Mexican Government for 
both the news letter and the English bulletin. . . 
No one who watched the operation of the school 
and appreciated by observation the zest of the 
students to learn English and the sympathetic 
mental trend toward the United States inspired 
among them in the process could fail to regret that 
the classes might not have been continued per- 
manently, and that some arrangement might not 
be made for extending on a larger scale throughout 
Mexico what the Committee accomplished in an 
experimental way in the Capital." 

All the information concerning America dis- 
tributed by the Committee, the good impressions 
made on Mexicans living in the United States 
during the Revolution but now returning to their 
homes, the idealism shown by us in the War, and 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 157 

our actual demonstration of undreamed-of power, 
along with a new open-mindedness and a realiza- 
tion of the impossibility of isolated existence, which 
the World War has forced on Mexico as well as on 
the rest of the world — all these things have 
brought Mexico to a desire for friendship with the 
United States which is the most outstanding thing 
that a visitor to that country now notices. 

I began to appreciate it immediately upon 
entering the Republic in February, 1919. At 
Monterrey I found the newspapers publishing 
editorials running something like this: 'We must 
realize that Mexico needs to understand the 
United States. We must live as next-door neigh- 
bors to that country, whether we like it or not, so 
we must find out how we can live in a friendly 
way. We should not live back in 1847. Those 
days are past and we must face up to the problem 
of 1919." 

A similar sentiment is expressed in the following 
significant editorial from the Mexico City daily, 
El Excelsior: 

"As we view the matter, no more important 
statements have been made for several years than 
those of the Hon. Roberto V. Pesqueira in the 
toast which he pronounced at the banquet given 
by himself and Governor Mireles to the visiting 
American newspaper men on March 3rd. The 
influential position of Mr.. Pesqueira as financial 
agent of the Mexican Government at El Paso and 



158 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

the presence at the same time of men who have 
access to the influential papers in the United 
States, make the words which he uttered seem all 
the more weighty. Here is what he said : 'Mexico 
has no intention of closing her frontiers, as China 
once did, to keep out all foreigners. On the 
contrary, she is disposed to receive with open 
arms all who wish to come, provided they come in 
good faith. Nor does this country propose to 
make Article 27 of the revised Constitution retro- 
active in its effects; the rights acquired prior to 
the adoption of that document in 191 7 are going 
to be rigidly respected'. 

We have purposely waited several days before 
commenting to see if any correction or modifica- 
tion of these striking statements would follow. It 
struck us that there was a radical contrast between 
the sentiments of extreme Jacobites and pseudo- 
socialists — ^whose one aim is the despoiling of the 
rich, the bourgeois, and the foreigners in the name 
of the revolutionary reprisals — and these sane 
suggestions as to the official purposes of our 
Government. 

Landed proprietors, mine owners, corporations, 
oil men, manufacturers, the mass of our citizens 
and country people, natives as well as foreigners, 
can now breathe more easily. Henceforward they 
can devote themselves without uneasiness to the 
development of their interests — ^which are, at the 
same time, the interests of the country — resting 
secure in the rights which they have acquired. 
Immigration from abroad, both of work hands and 
of capital, lately so suspicious and shy of us, can 
now be set going again. 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS 159 

According to Messrs. Pesqueira and Cabrera, 
the Government cherishes no hatred of foreigners. 
Whatever of such hatred exists must find its home 
in this or that wayward heart or ill-balanced mind. 
No longer is suspended over capital and invest- 
ments the Damocles sword of the retroactive 
quality of Article 2"! — or of any other, we venture 
to add. As a matter of fact, the 'ultra-radicalism* 
of Article 2"], not to call it by a harsher, if more 
accurate term, originated in the suspicion which 
its very form implied that the intention of it was 
to make a clean sweep of all the past, in virtue of 
its retroactive application. On the other hand, if 
it is true, as the same Constitution lays down in 
Article 14, that neither this nor any other law can 
be made of retroactive effect, this terrible article 
ceases to be a matter of spoliation, violence, and 
injustice, and, as applied to future developments, 
may prove good, bad, or indifferent as the case 
may be. Certainly it will no longer be odious and 
ruinous, dissolvent of society itself, and disastrous 
even for the workingman. 

Only by proper respect for rights duly acquired 
can changes be made in the control of properties, 
even when such changes are demanded in the 
interest of real progress. Progress must be made 
compatible with the stability of peoples. 

We congratulate most sincerely these spokesmen 
and leaders of the revolutionary government for 
their excellent political judgment. Once these 
sentiments are carried into effect, and that without 
partiality or trickery but in good faith and real 
sincerity, they will have rendered an eminent 
service to their country." 



i6o INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Similar expressions from the press, government 
officials, and the mass of the people, came to me as 
I traveled all through the Republic. 

One of the primary purposes of my latest visit 
to Mexico was to investigate the question of 
establishing in Mexico City a great educational 
institution, backed by the people of the United 
States and combining the best educational prin- 
ciples, both of Mexico and of the United States, 
in practical effort to solve Mexico's problem. Vari- 
ous organizations and individuals have often 
talked of the need of such an institution. But one 
reason for its not being developed has been the fear 
that the plan might not be welcomed by the Mexi- 
can Government. Putting it squarely before the 
Government and people was one of the surest 
tests of their attitude toward the United States; 
and yet everywhere I presented the subject there 
was a hearty, unequivocal assurance of welcome 
for such an institution. I put the question 
directly to President Carranza and he assured me 
of his approval and his belief that the institution 
would do great good. 

Here we are, then, after a hundred years of 
misunderstanding, for which both Mexicans and 
Americans have their full share of responsibility — 
and if I had been addressing this chapter to Mexi- 
cans I would have made their faults stand out 
much more prominently — ^ready to start upon a 



MEXICANS AND AMERICANS i6i 

new era of friendly relations. If both peoples will 
trust each other more fully, strive harder to under- 
stand each other's point of view when difficulties 
arise, and endeavor to be more helpful to each 
other, we can solve the question of the mutual re- 
lationships of these neighboring countries — the 
question which is undoubtedly one of the most 
difficult before both the United States and Mexico. 



CHAPTER V 
THE PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 

What are the actual conditions in Mexico today? 
In order to give the reader a general idea of this 
subject, I am describing in this chapter some of my 
experiences in a trip to the Republic in February 
and March of 19 19. The style of travel notes is 
retained and the present tense refers to the two 
months just mentioned. 

One finds things in Mexico very different from 
what he imagines them when feeding on New York 
papers. No very definite information seems 
available concerning trains in Mexico before one 
gets to the border. Rumor has it that there are 
no Pullmans, that trains run only every few days, 
that they are "shot up" every once in a while, 
and the like. But we found on arriving at Laredo 
at eight a. m. that we could have our passports 
vis6ed on the American side, take an automobile 
across the river, have baggage examined at least 
five different times by as many officials — including 
a fumigation, which meant only that a bulb of 
chemicals was squeezed at one's valises — and catch 
the train going south at eleven a. m. We made 
better time to Monterrey than I remember in all 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 163 

the numerous times that I have covered this trip 
before, arriving at 4 p. m. There were a number 
of Americans on board, including the wives of two 
mining men living away down in Concepcion del 
Oro, which is far removed from any center. Of 
course, the State Department would not give them 
passports, for it still insists on withholding these 
necessary documents from those who wish to go 
anywhere except a few of the large cities. This is 
rather a ludicrous procedure, however, as after 
one crosses the border, he has no more use for his 
passport and can go wherever he pleases. 

Monterrey is not as much the "Chicago of 
Mexico" as it used to be before the Revolution. It 
has suffered a good deal, and there is marked limi- 
tation of business. Still, there is some building 
going on, and one notices few "for rent" signs. The 
large plant of the American Smelter and Refining 
Company is at work, and it employs a good many 
Americans. The steel plant and the smaller smel- 
ter are also in operation, as are the brewery and 
other manufacturing plants. Ten years ago there 
were some four thousand Americans in Monterrey. 
Now the average estimate is five hundred. The 
Foreign Club, which includes English and French, 
as well as American men, is a delightful little 
place, where one gets the gossip and meets the best 
element of the foreign colonies. The general 
opinion expressed concerning politics is that 



i64 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Carranza will be able to serve out his term. There 
are certainly no leaders of strength opposing him 
at the present time. Several express the idea that 
he believed that Germany was going to win the 
War for some time, but now that he has seen his 
mistake, he is more ready to deal on friendly terms 
with Americans and with our Government than 
ever before. ,, The two great needs mentioned 
ever3rwhere are money and the bettering of the 
railroad situation. The rolling stock on the rail- 
roads is running down all the time, and very little is 
being done to repair the engines and cars. Freight 
cars were burned by the thousands during the Rev- 
olution, and it is almost impossible to get cars to 
move shipments. This has compelled many of the 
leading companies to own their own engines and 
cars. The Guggenheim smelter in Monterrey runs 
trains on practically all the railroads in Mexico. I 
am told they keep thirty or forty engines going 
continually. They have built up their shops to 
such an extent that they can practically rebuild 
an engine, and they are continually taking the old, 
worn-out engines and making them new. 

I am told that the Government is having a very 
hard time paying its bills. Duties have been put 
up again recently, and every possible means of 
revenue is used to its limit. Nevertheless, the 
teachers in Mexico City have been threatening a 
strike because they have not been paid their 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 165 

salaries for many weeks. In Monterrey the state 
and municipal governments seem to have been 
able to pay the salaries of the teachers and the 
public schools are in good condition. A current 
despatch from Mexico City says that 512 schools, 
the same number as last year, have just been 
opened. This means that more than fifty per cent, 
of the children of school age in the Federal Dis- 
trict will not be able to find places in the schools. 
These 512 schools are classified as follows: ele- 
mentary and grammar schools, 332; government 
night schools, 42; government kindergartens, 13; 
private primary schools, 72; private foreign 
schools, 45 ; private kindergartens, 8. Of the 332 
elementary schools, 166 are in the capital and 
the same number are distributed among the 
municipalities. It is interesting to note, however, 
that this is a larger provision for primary education 
in the Federal District than was made in any year 
of the Diaz administration. 

American firms in Monterrey are rejoicing over 
the fact that the embargo on merchandise has been 
removed by the United States, and great quantities 
of goods that have been held on the border for 
months are now rolling into the country, making 
business very prosperous. An American paper and 
printing house was found to be enlarging its ware- 
rooms, making space for practically $100,000 worth 
of additional stock that is expected soon. "You 



i66 ^ INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

expect to do some business in spite of the Revo- 
lution," I said to the general agent. 'We have 
never been closed all the time since the Revolution 
began," he replied. 'We have always been open 
for business, and expect to be. The volume of our 
business today is larger than it was in the 'good 
old days' of eight or ten years ago." 

The striking changes that several mentioned to 
me in Monterrey were that there is a great deal 
less drinking and that the demand for books is 
very much larger. These two things were not put 
together by those who mentioned them, but it is 
interesting to look at them at the same time. Most 
of the reading matter has been brought from 
Spain. One local bookdealer imports very often a 
bill of $10,000 or $15,000 worth of books from 
Spain. Germany formerly shipped a good many 
books into Mexico also, as the Germans were great 
translators. Most of the American books, such as 
James' "Talks to Teachers" and Emerson's "Es- 
says," have been translated into Spanish by Ger- 
man firms. Now that the German exporters are 
not so active, there is a great opportunity for 
others to take their places. There is an increasing 
demand for American books. If the American 
publishers would enter this field they could find 
large business. 

Apropos of the matter of reading, one of the 
most interesting things in Monterrey today is the 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 167 

reading room on the main plaza, supported by the 
American and other foreign colonists. This was 
opened in order to give the public an opportunity 
to get the real facts concerning the War. The walls 
are lined with the most beautiful of the American 
and French posters. The tables are filled not 
simply with books of propaganda for the Allies, 
but with all kinds of good reading matter. Every 
time I passed the room it was crowded with 
readers. This is only one of the good things that 
the American colony has been carrying on during 
the War in order to keep pro-Ally sentiment 
dominant, and they have accomplished this pur- 
pose in a remarkable way. Monterrey has been 
overwhelmingly pro-Ally, in spite of the fact that 
the German colony numbers among it some of the 
most prominent business men in the city. 

Though there are only a few American business 
men in Monterrey, they are active and wide-awake 
and an American chamber of commerce is in 
process of organization there. A little American 
school is well supported and makes living condi- 
tions a good deal more satisfactory. The Young 
Men's Christian Association, the Laurens Insti- 
tute, and the Christian Institute, all sustained 
by American organizations, are doing splendid 
work. The first named has been greatly handi- 
capped by its lack of a building, and hopes to be 
able soon to begin the erection of an adequate 



i68 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

plant. "The Young Men's Christian Association 
is the best American propaganda that we can 
possibly have in this country," said a business 
man. *We ought to have two here, however, one 
for the city branch, and the other out by the rail- 
road as an industrial branch." 

Business is developing along many lines. The 
representatives of Henry Ford, who is expecting 
to establish two or three plants for the manufac- 
ture of tractors in Mexican cities, have recently 
visited Monterrey, and it is hoped that one plant 
will be located there. An excursion of Texas 
business men is due to arrive in a very short while. 
This excursion will take in the main cities of 
Mexico. There is a considerable movement on 
now among the different commercial bodies to 
develop an export business, shipping more of Mexi- 
co's products to other parts of the world. The 
brewing interests here figure that they should 
capture a good deal of the trade of Central and 
South America with the closing of the breweries 
in the United States. There are also indications 
that the breweries in the United States are ex- 
pecting to ship large amounts of their machinery 
to Mexico and continue business here. 

One meets with many bright young Mexicans 
who have just come from the United States. One 
of a group of them with whom I talked had visited 
nearly all of our cities, including San Antonio, 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 169 

St. Louis, Chicago, New York, and many of the 
manufacturing centers of New England. He said 
he had gone very much prejudiced against the 
United States, but what he had seen, not only of 
the power in the industrial life of the country, but 
also of the remarkable patriotism shown during 
the War, had made him return to Mexico as one 
who would give his time to propagating ideas of 
friendship between the two countries. The others 
spoke along the same lines. They spoke of the 
great good that could be done by scholarships for 
Mexicans to study in American institutions. This 
would be one of the best ways to build up an under- 
standing between the two countries. All of the 
young men said that they were greatly prejudiced 
against the United States before they visited there. 
They talked very frankly about the weaknesses of 
the Latin races — their unwillingness to save, their 
lack of respect for women, their desire to "show 
off" and to appear better than they are. They gave 
historical reasons for these things, and felt that if 
they could know the United States better, they 
could the more easily overcome these defects. 

The editorials in the papers are more friendly 
than I have ever seen them in Mexico before. 
One appeared in a Monterrey paper, reciting the 
reasons why Mexicans were prejudiced against 
the United States, but saying that there is no use 
in denying that the United States is the greatest 



170 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

country In the world, and that the sooner Mexico 
begins to study her institutions, to find out the 
cause of her greatness, and to imitate her in certain 
respects, the better it will be for the nation. 

Saltillo is a beautiful little city seventy miles 
south of Monterrey, up in the mountains. It is 
often called by its friends the Athens of Mexico. 
One feels the atmosphere of culture probably 
more here than in any other Mexican city. While 
it has a population of only 35,000 people, it has 
furnished many of the citizens who have become 
prominent in the life of the Republic. Saltillo 
naturally reminds one of President Carranza. I 
often talked with him in the State House concern- 
ing educational problems while he was serving as 
governor. In those days he referred several times 
to the fact that President Madero was insisting 
upon his taking a place in his cabinet, but he said 
that he had consistently refused because of his 
desire to work out the problems of taxation and 
education in his own state. I have never been 
able to understand how some people have main- 
tained that Carranza was plotting a rebellion 
against Madero, for there was certainly no evi- 
dence of it in those days. He retained his loyalty 
to his chief up until the death of the latter. When 
Madero was succeeded by Huerta, Carranza was 
the first governor of a Mexican state to denounce 
the usurpation of power and he gathered together 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 171 

at Saltillo the first part of his army in opposition to 
Huerta's anti-constitutional act, thus originating 
the name of Carranza's party as the "Constitu- 
tionalists." 

Walking along the streets of Saltillo, I met three 
young men who used to be classmates at the 
People*s Institute in Piedras Negras. They were 
standing in front of a moving picture theater, and 
two of them explained that they were proprietors 
of the show. They invited me in to see the Ameri- 
can film that was being shown, explaining that 
they had recently taken charge of the theater and 
were showing all American films. They had en- 
tirely renovated the theater and taken the galleries 
down, making only one big floor. One reason 
why they did this was to emphasize the democracy 
which should prevail among the people. These 
young fellows were working in the railroad shops 
when they were in the People's Institute. They 
had gotten their ideas of progress from the night 
classes and debating club there and were now 
carrying them out in practical life. Introducing 
American films and having the audience sit in 
democratic fashion all on the same floor was their 
Latin idealistic way of introducing Americanism, 
in which they were firm believers. The other 
young man, who had been a student in the Insti- 
tute, asked me to go to the hotel and see the line 
of samples that he was carrying for a wholesale 



172 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

house in the United States. He showed me his 
order book, containing several thousand dollars' 
worth of orders which he had sold during the two 
days that he had been in the city. I noticed so 
many dozen pairs of shoes at seven, eight, ten 
dollars a pair; so many hats, ranging from three- 
fifty to ten dollars each. He said that he was 
having a very large business in every town where 
he showed his samples, for people were anxious 
for American g;oods. The duties were included in 
the prices quoted, so that the merchants would 
know exactly how much their goods would cost 
them laid down. 

Saltillo has always been a liberal city and 
Americans have felt at home there. Fortunately 
some of them, like the lamented Consul Silliman, 
have been known far and wide for their honorable 
character and their friendly interest in the Mexi- 
can people. 

San Luis Potosi is the next city of impor- 
tance south of Saltillo. It is about as near the 
geographical center of Mexico as one can get. 
This may indicate why it is what one might call 
a "middle of the road" town — that is to say, it 
neither shows very much American influence, as 
does the city of Monterrey, nor is it preponderantly 
Indian as are Zacatecas and Guanajuato. The 
streets are beautifully paved and plazas are every- 
where. The city possesses a most attractive 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 173 

market, one of the finest theaters in the republic, 
which would do credit to any American city, 
innumerable Catholic churches — a few of them 
rare gems of architecture — and modern sewer and 
water systems. 

The first impression of the traveler here, as in 
other cities visited, after having read so much 
about chaotic conditions, is one of surprise that 
the world is moving along with so little distur- 
bance. The old American resident naturally 
misses the large American colony. Still, there 
are some Americans who have stayed through the 
entire Revolution. How have they been treated? 
Except in rare cases, the only bad treatment re- 
ported by those who have been here continually 
was received, as already stated, from the Huerta 
forces at the time the United States took Vera 
Cruz. The various revolutionary leaders, from 
Carranza down, have generally treated the Ameri- 
cans well, except when they have forced loans 
from them and in other ways replenished their 
depleted treasuries. Many of the "generals" who 
have commanded the revolutionary armies are far 
from being what they should be. There is an 
American grocer in San Luis Potosi, who has been 
in business here for some twenty years. He came 
as a mere boy, with a very small capital, and for 
many years increased his capital at a very rapid 
rate. He said, however, that he was figuring up 



174 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

the other day and found out that he was just 
where he was seven years ago. In 1917* when con- 
ditions were more disturbed here than at any 
other time, the revolutionary leaders took from 
him altogether 56,000 pesos. He had either to 
pay these exorbitant demands or have the store 
taken away from him. He has also lost about 
2,200 head of cattle from his ranch, which he 
owns as a result of the growth of his business in 
Mexico. 

Another interesting American, who has been in 
San Luis for more than thirty years, is a lady 
whose husband was bom and reared in Persia, 
being the nephew of one of the Shahs of Persia. 
While his father was governor of one of the prov- 
inces, he was assassinated. The children were 
compelled to leave Persia, so came to the United 
States. When one of them was lost, the brother 
now living here came to the border of Mexico 
seeking him. He did not find his brother, but met 
Juarez, who at that time was defending the coun- j 
try against Maximilian, and the young Persian - 
joined Juarezes army. Later he went back to the 
United States, married a Tennessee girl and re- | 
turned to Mexico. One would hardly find a more 
beautifully appointed home in New York than 
these people have here in San Luis. It is marve- 
lous to be shown around their home and see their | 
wonderful collection of china and Mexican paint- 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 175 

ings, and to realize that none of these have been 
ever threatened during the years of revolution. I 
say it is marvelous — it doesn't seem so after one 
is there, but I am sure the story will sound strange 
in New York. 

The Americans who have remained in Mexico 
throughout the Revolution are the ones who now 
seem to have the most hope for the country. 
Small property owners and salaried men generally 
recognize that the present authorities are making 
a little headway against tremendous odds, and 
believe that conditions will continue gradually to 
improve. They recognize as the worst element in 
the situation the graft in the lesser government 
officials, and especially among the numerous 
"generals" of the Army, who are often arbitrary 
and cruel in their dealings with the people. They 
are willing to admit that it has probably been 
impossible for President Carranza to weed out 
this unsatisfactory element because of the possi- 
bility of their turning against him, in which case 
he would lose more ground than he would gain. 
One merchant, who has suffered a good deal from 
the demands for special contributions to maintain 
the Army, said: "These demands seem very hard 
and unjust, yet one can not think, when it is a 
question of life and death with the Government, 
that he can expect to escape paying his share 
toward the maintenance of the Army." 



176 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Some of the oil men, however, do not seem to 
share in this philosophical view of things. One of 
them said : "I think it was a mistake for a representa- 
tive of the oil interests to go to the Peace Confer- 
ence to decide questions concerning Mexico. It 
would be unfortunate for the Peace Conference to 
take up the Mexican question." When I asked him 
why, he replied: "Because of President Wilson's 
influence there. What we want is to wait until 
1920 and then the oil men, under a new President, 
will demand and secure justice from Mexico." He 
said that Americans were less liked in Mexico now 
than they had ever been before. When I told him 
that this was quite different from what other 
Americans and Mexicans had said to me, he seemed 
greatly surprised. He admitted, however, that he 
had not been outside of the Tampico district. 

The oil question here is followed with the keenest 
interest by both Mexicans and Americans. The 
sending of a representative of the oil interests to 
the Peace Conference is sharply resented by the 
Mexicans. Some reference to it appears in almost 
every paper. El Universal of Mexico City every 
week devotes a solid page to a discussion by a 
lawyer of the legal questions involved in the oil 
problem. His conclusion is that legally the nation 
has a right to declare the subsoil products national 
property, but he recognizes that the advisability of 
doing so at present as regards oil is another 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 177 

question. Every Mexican I have talked with, 
including Ambassador Bonillas, insists that Mexico 
has no intention whatever of confiscating any 
property. The oil men are naturally not content 
with any such general assurances. 

The American consul in San Luis, who has 
served in many parts of the world, including 
South America, and who left Germany only a 
little while before war was declared, speaks in the 
highest terms of the lower class Mexican. Last year 
he viseed the passports of over 2,000 Mexican 
workmen who were going to the United States to 
live. They were a fine class of people. All of 
them had sufficient money to pay their fare to 
their destination in the United States, and would 
make good citizens of that country. He says he 
never dealt with a more kindly and sincere people. 
Most of these emigrants have kinsfolk in the 
United States. They come from various states to 
the south, Sam Luis being the first American con- 
sulate they find. This is only one indication of the 
fact that this is the gathering place for people from 
the most densely populated parts of Mexico. 
Whereas the city had a population of about 80,000 
at the beginning of the Revolution, it is estimated 
that there are at least 125,000 here at the present 
time, the increase consisting chiefly of people from 
the country round about who sought safety in the 
city. 



178 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

The smelter operated by the American Metals 
Company has been reopened now for several 
months, though it is not running at full force yet. 
The San Pedro and several other mines near here 
are being worked. The prospect is that others 
that have been closed for some time will be 
opened. 

The Governor of the state is one of the bright 
young men with a modem viewpoint, inexperi- 
enced, but with the best purposes, who are today so 
often found at the head of state governments in 
Mexico. He was educated in the Anglo-American 
College in Aguascalientes as a boy and learned 
there to speak English. He has made one exten- 
sive trip through the United States. 

Asked as to whether the majority of people in 
San Luis were pro-Ally or pro-German, he said, 
"Me and my friends are all Allies." He intimated 
that the German sentiment had been quite strong 
in San Luis. He told of the large English company 
which owns the sulphur mines near here — proba- 
bly the largest sulphur mines in Mexico — and 
had been selling its product to the German Gov- 
ernment for many years, not knowing to what use 
it was to be put. A German company had recently 
slipped into one of these mines which an English 
company had abandoned several years ago, and is 
now working next door to the large English 
company and causing them a deal of trouble. It 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 179 

was a bad oversight on the part of the American 
manager to allow this, and the firm was put on 
the United States blacklist for a while because of it. 

The Governor was of the opinion that the Mexi- 
can Government in the past has been quite the op- 
posite of what it ought to be. The people have 
expected the Government to do everything, when 
really it should be considered a servant of the 
people and encourage them to do things for them- 
selves. For this reason he favored the develop- 
ment of private schools, which would put the bur- 
den on the parents of the children themselves, 
making them pay for the things they get and 
thereby bringing about an appreciation of the 
schools. Now the Government opens the schools, 
pays for the books and all material, and then has 
to compel the people to send their children. This 
is not the fact, he thinks, with those who have 
learned the value of education, but with the very 
poor who little appreciate the need of schooling. 

Some hundred and fifty miles due west from San 
Luis is the city of Aguascalientes. It is known as 
a health resort, and people come here from all 
parts of the country, especially for the fine baths. 
True to its name, great streams of hot water are 
found running through the city streets. Aguas- 
calientes is also a great industrial center. The 
largest railroad shops in the country are here, as is 
also one of the largest smelters of the Guggenheim 



i8o INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

interests. Neither of these institutions is working 
at full capacity at the time of this visit, however. 
On account of the lowering of the price of copper, 
the smelter is running with a very much reduced 
force. The railroad shops are crammed full of old 
engines that have been more or less wrecked during 
the Revolution. These are not being repaired 
with anything like the rapidity that they should be. 
The ordinary population of Aguascalientes is 
about 55,000, but because of the difficult financial 
situation through which the city has passed for the 
last several years, it is probable that there are not 
so many people there now. The stores, however, 
have a splendid assortment of goods, and there are 
fewer beggars than in San Luis. The American 
consul here, like the one in San Luis, reports 
Mexican migration to the United States to work 
on the railroads and in the mines. The consul 
received word a little while before the armistice 
was declared that the railroads in the southern 
part of the United States could easily use 50,000 
Mexicans as track workers. Now that the War is 
over, however, the demand for Mexican workmen 
is not likely to be nearly so great. As long as they 
can make $3.50 a day as track workers, and $6.00 
or $8.00 a day in semi-skilled lines, they will prob- 
ably continue to enter the United States. A large 
number of them go for only a short time and then 
return to their homes. 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO i8i 

This is one of the most thickly populated dis- 
tricts in Mexico. Around the railroad station and 
shops the Americans, who formerly had charge of 
the railroad, have built a beautiful colony, all of 
the buildings being of brick architecture. Out 
beyond the colony are the famous hot water baths, 
which are approached by a beautiful drive lined 
with some very handsome homes. While this part 
of the city gives evidence of neglect at the present 
time, no doubt in the next few years, as the world 
comes — as it must come — ^to seek the riches of 
Mexico, this will be one of the finest suburbs in any 
Mexican city. As we walked along this beautiful 
avenue we saw a strange sight for Mexico — young 
Mexican lads on very fine ponies, playing polo. 
Certainly there is hope for the country when these 
young fellows, without any foreigner leading them, 
are taking up such games. How many revolutions 
the country would have been saved, if in the past 
young Mexicans had learned to be good losers by 
being reared on the competitive games, such as 
baseball and football, which play such a large part 
in the education of the Anglo-Saxon youth ! 

One who has known this region for many years 
and was sent in the fall of 191 8 to make a report of 
conditions to his organization says : 

"In the whole northern district I have noted a 
decided if not remarkable improvement over con- 
ditions obtaining last year. The railroad service 



i82 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

is not improved and one is subject to great delay 
and inconvenience in getting from place to place. 
The danger from bandits and the losses caused by 
incursions of armed bands have decreased. I have 
noted a much larger extent of land under cultiva- 
tion. There are fewer beggars and starved-looking 
people at the stations. In Fresnillo, in Concepcion, 
and in San Luis Potosi, mining operations and the 
treatment of ores by the cyanide and smelting 
processes were carried out on a more extensive 
scale, thus furnishing employment to a larger 
number of people." 

Zacatecas is the state immediately north of 
Aguascalientes, and its capital city, like most state 
capitals in Mexico, bears the name of the state. 
Zacatecas is one of the states that have suffered 
most from the Revolution. Mining being the prin- 
cipal industry and it having been almost impossible 
to get ore to the market, workmen have had little 
to do, and the economic conditions are the worst 
seen in the Republic. The city of Zacatecas, 
which used to have a population of 35,000 or more, 
now probably has not many more than half that 
number. It was here that one of the hardest-fought 
battles of the Revolution took place, when Villa 
took the city from the Federalists. A high hill 
called "La Bufa" dominates the city, towering 
something like 1,500 feet immediately above it. 
The revolutionists placed their cannon on that 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 183 

high spot and poured fire into the city for several 
days. Many effects of the battle can be seen at the 
present time. 

Zacatecas is one of the most picturesque cities 
in the whole world. The approach to it is made by 
many winding passes through the mountains. The 
city seems to be now on one side and now on the 
other side of the train. A little mule car is at the sta- 
tion awaiting the passengers. Here there are no 
coaches or automobiles for hire. All of the passen- 
gers, with their baggage, pile into the little mule 
car and ride to the city, a mile and a half away. 
The hotels are delighted to see a foreigner or two, 
and the whole city — especially the numerous beg- 
gars — seems to be thrown into commotion, for 
there are very few travelers who have business in 
Zacatecas these days. 

The one live, progressive thing we found about 
the city was the Governor. He is a young fellow, 
scarcely past thirty, a native of Zacatecas, who 
volunteered as a common soldier in the revolution- 
ary army, and has worked himself up through the 
various grades of service, having fought all the 
way from Sonora to Yucatan. Some of the citizens 
reported that he is quite a Socialist and a good 
friend to the laboring men. When I called upon 
him and intimated that I was interested in closer 
relations between Mexico and the United States, 
he received me most enthusiastically. An account 



184 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

of his having placed two thousand families on their 
own land during the last year was given in Chap- 
ter 11. 

The outstanding experience in my visit to 
Mexico City, during the trip in the spring of 191 9 
which this chapter describes, was an interview with 
President Carranza in the National Palace. We 
discussed principally the relations between the 
United States and Mexico and the improving situa- 
tion in Mexico itself. The President I found much 
preoccupied with what seems to him to be a 
concerted action on the part of the press in the 
United States to give the impression that Amer- 
icans are not liked or wanted in Mexico. I 
sat down immediately after the interview and 
wrote out the following, which I believe is very 
close to a literal translation of what the President 
said, and which his friends to whom I showed it, 
agreed as representing him : 

"You have now been in the Republic, traveling 
in all parts of the country. You have lived in 
Mexico for many years, and know our people. 
Have you seen in your visit indication that 
Americans are treated any differently from any 
other people, that they are persecuted in any 
way, that they are not received with cordiality by 
government officials as well as by the people 
generally? We deeply appreciate what many 
Americans — business men, missionaries, tourists — 
are doing to inform the people of the United 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 185 

States concerning the actual conditions in Mexico. 
But notwithstanding the efforts of these few, on 
the other hand there seems to be an organized 
propaganda in the United States to depreciate the 
Mexican Government and the Mexican people, 
by making Americans think that their fellow- 
citizens are ill-treated in Mexico and that they are 
not wanted here at all. 

As you have traveled around, no doubt you find 
a great difference between conditions here now and 
two years ago, when you last visited us. You see 
the improved economic conditions. You see less 
evidence of military rule. You see new life devel- 
oping everywhere. Go to our theaters — they are 
full. Go to our moving picture shows — you can 
hardly find a seat. Look at the automobile taxi 
service, one of the finest to be found anywhere, 
with hundreds of new machines serving the public. 
Prices are not exorbitant. Our schools are opening 
and functioning. Some of the best minds Mexico 
has produced, both young men and those who have 
been connected with education for many years, 
are giving themselves to solving our difficult edu- 
cational problems. Trains are running on all lines. 
Crops are more universally planted this year than 
for a long time. Now these are the things we 
would like the people in the United States to know. 
We do not want any fulsome praise, we do not 
want any one to shut his eyes to the fact that all 
our problems are not yet solved. We do not ask 
favors. We simply ask that the truth in fairness 
be known. 

Of course, there are bands which plunder in 
different parts of the country; there are assassins 



i86 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

and robbers whom we have not yet been able to 
catch. We are not able to set a policeman to 
follow every individual in the Republic. But what 
country, after long years of war, has not found it- 
self in these conditions! When the United States 
had a large Indian population, did they not 
murder your people on the frontiers? After the 
Civil War, were your trains not blown up and 
robbed? Did you not have bandits who lived in 
rough country for years, breaking out here and 
there, robbing and killing, without the authorities 
being able to catch them? 

Have you been to Tampico yet? That is the 
center, it seems to me, of most of the misunder- 
standing between the United States and Mexico. 
We are trying to do everything in our power to 
give protection to the Americans in that district, 
but we find some of them entirely unwilling to 
cooperate with us. There are certain organizations 
which have given contributions to the bandit 
Pelaez, which enable him to carry on his nefarious 
business. The complaints have been that the 
bandits attack paymasters — and, of course, we 
know that that is actually true. So the Govern- 
ment gave orders that no paymasters should be 
sent out without having an official army escort. 
There have been many cases, however, when 
these escorts have been refused and the bandits 
notified when the paymasters would pass certain 
places, in order that they might be assaulted and 
their money taken, thus giving aid to the bandits 
without appearing to do so. 

We need all possible help from every one inter- 
ested in fair play and international friendship to 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 187 

solve this delicate problem. There is no real reason 
of which I know for our two peoples not getting 
along together. Of course, the problems are great, 
but they are not insurmountable if we will work 
honestly together for their solution." 

The President was kind enough to go into further 
detail and to allow me all the time I wished to 
explain the state of public opinion in the United 
States toward Mexico. I assured him that simply 
because there were a number of articles against 
Mexico appearing in the North American press, 
practically all of which are quoted in the daily 
papers in Mexico City, it is not a foregone conclu- 
sion that these articles represent the general feel- 
ing in our country; that the people of the United 
States have learned to read the newspapers, and 
they do not by any means believe all that the 
newspapers report. He seemed gratified to be 
assured that the great majority of the American 
people have nothing but the kindliest feelings 
toward Mexico and an earnest desire to help their 
neighbor in an unselfish way in its great problem 
of reconstruction. 

I find the President the same quiet, unosten- 
tatious, earnest democrat whom I had known years 
ago in Coahuila. In fact, it seems to me that he 
has left off some of his sternness and has become 
more mellowed and sympathetic, with the heavy 
responsibilities he is carrying. He is looking more 



i88 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

rested, and is carrying more flesh than at any other 
time I have seen him since he took up the fight 
against Huerta. 

Before my own interview I presented, by pre- 
vious arrangement, the secretaries of some ten 
missionary boards in the United States, who are 
now in Mexico City attending a conference of 
Christian workers, where a large, comprehensive 
program is being developed for the establishment 
of colleges, normal schools, agricultural and me- 
chanical schools, social settlements, hospitals, and 
churches in practically every part of the Republic. 
The president of the conference explained to Presi- 
dent Carranza that the conference is being held to 
study how the program of the American missionary 
societies might be enlarged and made more 
efficient, emphasizing the fact that none of them 
has any interest in Mexico except the desire to be 
helpful to a neighboring people. 

The President said that he greatly appreciated 
the privilege of speaking to this delegation, repre- 
senting some 15,000,000 members of Christian 
churches in North America and assured them that 
now, as always, he believed in the efficacy of the 
American missionary work in Mexico. He was 
delighted with the educational program which had 
been outlined to him, and he felt sure that there 
was no reason why it should not be carried out 
with the sympathy of the Government and the 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 189 

help of the people. As for the agricultural schools, 
they could do great good in helping to solve the 
land problem, but he recommended that they have 
rather short courses, not too technical or far re- 
moved from the people, and return the students to 
the land as soon as possible. 

He said he appreciated the fact that the mis- 
sionaries had done all in their power to befriend 
Mexico, and to spread the right impressions of this 
country in the United States, and he hoped that 
when this company returned to the United States 
it would do what it could to let the people know 
that there is no prejudice or ill feeling toward the 
American people, that the Government and Mexi- 
can people are as friendly to them ^s to any other 
foreigners, and that the country is developing 
slowly but surely. "We do not want you to say 
anything that you do not feel, or represent condi- 
tions differently from what you have found them, 
but those of you who visited the country two years 
ago can see the great improvements, and we would 
like this fact to be known in your country.^' 

Before any such suggestion had come from the 
President, the conference had adopted the follow- 
ing resolution, which represents the feeling not 
only of the Americans visiting the country, but 
also the missionaries resident there. 

"The Conference of Christian Workers meeting 
in the City of Mexico, February 17-122, 1919, 



190 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

wishes to express its deep gratitude for the cordial 
way in which it has been received by all the people 
and for the fact that improved conditions and the 
open-mindedness of the people permit Christian 
work to be carried on in all parts of the Republic, 
with protection and welcome for the workers. 

The twenty delegates from the United States, 
before arriving at the Capital, have visited their 
work in all sections of the country, the routes of 
some being through Nogales, Sonora, Sinaloa, and 
Guadalajara, others through El Paso, Chihuahua, 
Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes, others through 
Laredo, Monterrey, and Saltillo, others through 
Matamoros, Victoria, Tampico, and San Luis 
Potosi, and others through Vera Cruz, Jalapa, and 
Puebla. Such travel has been attended with no 
untoward incident whatever, and with a far 
greater degree of comfort than was anticipated. 

Many encouraging evidences were found of the 
fact that the country is slowly but surely returning 
to normal conditions, socially, economically, and 
politically. While some outlying districts are still 
greatly disturbed, practically all the centers ex- 
hibit stable conditions. 

We recognize keenly the many difficulties 
against which the Government is working in re- 
storing the country to a normal life, and register 
our hearty sympathy with the Mexican people in 
their earnest struggle toward real democracy. 

We pledge ourselves to do all within our power 
to promote a closer friendship and clearer under- 
standing between the two neighboring republics, 
both by making known in the United States the 
real developments and deep aspirations we have 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 191 

found among the Mexican people, and by encour- 
aging in every possible way the increase of those 
institutions and movements which are set to aid 
Mexico in her struggle toward a new life." 

While waiting in the ante-room to see the Presi- 
dent, I was greatly impressed by the difference 
between the great throng around the National 
Palace which I saw today and that which I 
watched as I spent hours in the Palace two years 
ago. Then it was a very "Bolshevik" company. 
Most of them were "generals," wearing sadly faded 
uniforms and many queer costumes, and there 
were many common soldiers, some of whom I 
think even wore the white trousers and sandals 
which are the costume of the pure Indian. But 
today the crowd was very different, showing a 
pleasing degree of culture. It was encouraging, 
on shaking hands with two of my old friends, 
who I had heard were "generals," to have them 
say to me that they had retired from the army 
and were now cultivating land in Sonora. 

One day in Mexico City was spent with the edu- 
cators. I was invited to address the assembly of 
the National Preparatory School at eight o'clock 
in the morning. This school has an enrolment at 
present of about 700, a small number of whom are 
young women. The courses are similar to those 
in our high schools and would include probably the 
first two years of our college course. Graduates of 



192 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

this school are ready to enter the professional 
schools of law, medicine, and engineering. Pro- 
fessor Moises Saenz is the Director. He was edu- 
cated in Washington and Jefferson University, and 
was superintendent of the public schools for sev- 
eral years in Guanajuato. He had invited several 
other American educators to be present at the 
assembly the morning of my visit. As there had 
been some feeling against foreigners manifested in 
the school, we thought it very unwise for all of us 
to appear on the platform, but he insisted, and said 
that the spirit of the school had changed to such 
an extent that any number of Americans would be 
welcome. 

I spoke of the new day in the educational, po- 
litical, and social world. When I used as an illus- 
tration of how small the world was growing, the 
fact that President Wilson went across the seas to 
attend the Peace Conference, returned to the 
United States for a few days and then went back 
to Paris, breaking all national precedents, the 700 
students broke forth in enthusiastic cheers, which 
lasted for a remarkably long time. This was 
spoken of by all who had known the spirit of the 
school in the past as a remarkable demonstration 
of the new life that has recently been developed in 
the school under the direction of its American- 
trained principal. 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 193 

When this young man with North American 
educational ideals took charge of the school two 
years ago, there was practically a spirit of anarchy. 
The pupils would rise up in class and tell the pro- 
fessor to leave the room, saying that he knew 
nothing about the subject he was teaching. It was 
impossible to have any kind of an assembly. The 
students would not attend, even if it was made 
obligatory. On the morning to which I refer, 
however, every student enrolled in the entire 
institution was present, although the attendance 
of only the first year pupils was required. I have 
never seen a finer sight than those 700 bright 
young people, arranged in the magnificent amphi- 
theater of one of the finest school buildings in the 
Republic. There were several recitations and 
musical numbers, one of which was given by the 
grandson of the celebrated Mexican poet, Juan de 
Dios Peza. When the Director proposed that the 
students sent their greetings by us to the students 
in other parts of America they arose en masse and 
cheered the suggestion to the echo, lending empha- 
sis to it by singing the beautiful Mexican anthem, 
in which the young women rendered the verse and 
all the 700 voices united in a mighty chorus. 

After the exercises they assembled in the patio, 
where I took their photograph. This seemed to 
please them and they surrounded me, so that it 
was with great difficulty that I was able to make 



194 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

my way back to the Director's office. They had 
evidently caught the holiday spirit and, regarding 
me as their friend, began shouting the request that 
I should ask the Director for "un dia^'^ a day of 
vacation. 

Following this visit, I attended the thirty-second 
anniversary of the founding of the normal school 
of Mexico City. This took the form of a great 
banquet in the corridors of their magnificent 
building, which was attended by about 600 edu- 
cators and public school teachers. I had the 
privilege of sitting within the inner circle at the 
speakers' table, where were present Professor 
Eliseo Garcia, Director-General of Public Educa- 
tion, Lie. Jose Natividad Macias, Rector of the 
National University, Professor Alfonso Herrera, 
Secretary of Instruction of Mexico City, Sr. 
Miguel Torner and Dr. Luis Coyula, Commis- 
sioners of Public Instruction of the municipal 
government, Professor Moises Saenz, Director of 
the National Preparatory School, Arturo Pichardo, 
Emilio Bustamente, Francisco Santoyo, Diputado 
Alberto Romero, Daniel Alaves, Sostenes Chapa, 
and other leading educators. 

After a bountiful meal, which was interspersed 
with beautiful music from a military band and 
many interruptions by multitudinous photogra- 
phers, different speakers, without seeming to follow 
any formal program, arose spontaneously to give 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 195 

their ideas on education. One orator pessimistic- 
ally deprecated the fact that education in Mexico 
had so far accomplished so little, and called for a 
new program. He was followed by another, whose 
principal theme was that the Mexican teachers 
must take Christ for their ideal, both as a teacher 
and as one who suffered for great principles. A 
third regretted the fact that a previous speaker 
had spoken disparagingly of the past, and advo- 
cated the union of all teachers for the great work 
they had before them. A fourth speaker cited the 
remarkable development of a league between the 
teachers and the labor unions in Mexico City dur- 
ing the last few months. He was followed by a 
fiery young orator from a labor union, who said 
that this was the first banquet he had ever at- 
tended, the first time that his hard hands had ever 
been able to strike in friendly salute the soft, 
pliable hand of the teacher. He went on to say 
that the laboring classes were awakening, that 
they were anxious to learn, that they were realiz- 
ing how much of the great world beyond has 
escaped their notice, and were anxious to form an 
alliance with the teachers and make their influence 
felt along with those who possess intellectual 
power, in order that the new life of the nation 
might be kept steady in its contribution to the 
development of the whole people. 



196 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

The Director-General of public instruction 
closed the program with a beautiful appeal to all 
present to work together enthusiastically, in spite 
of the tremendous financial difficulties with which 
they are confronted. When the Government had 
little money to buy for them their needed equip- 
ment, when all kinds of difficulties were facing 
them, he said, they must continue faithful to their 
task of education, which would prove to be the 
salvation of the nation. 

In private conversation, various teachers indi- 
cated to me the great difficulties they are having 
in their schools because of the fact that the Govern- 
ment does not have the money to support them. 
The National Preparatory School has been en- 
deavoring to put in a physical department, and has 
tried in many ways to get an athletic field, but it 
has been impossible so far because there was no 
money to finance it. And so it is with practically 
every department in all of the schools. It is 
sad to see such a splendid, consecrated corps of 
young men and young women, who impress one as 
having the real missionary spirit, deprived of the 
financial support so necessary for the accomplish- 
ment of their work. Nothing could possibly be 
more encouraging than a day spent with these 
earnest men and women who, in spite of small 
salaries received often weeks and months behind 
time, in spite of political vicissitudes and uncer- 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 197 

tainties of position, are giving themselves so un- 
reservedly to the problem of education. 

Athletics are coming to be a recognized part of 
the educational program. All acquainted with 
Latin-American schools know that in the past the 
physical departments have been conspicuous by 
their absence. The Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation has recently been requested to organize 
athletics in some of the Mexico City institutions, 
and such activities have become contagious in 
many of the schools of the Republic. Last fall 
there was a great athletic meet in Mexico City, in 
which more than 200 athletes took part, with all 
of the college cheers, rooting, singing, and enthusi- 
asm that one would find at such a meet in the 
United States. The schools of Saltillo are prepar- 
ing a similar meet, and arrangements are being 
made for a carload of representatives from the 
National Preparatory School to attend, as will also 
representatives from schools in Monterrey, Tor- 
reon, Tampico, Durango, and other cities. 

The teachers are concerned about the question 
of textbooks. One bookstore in Mexico City has 
practically dominated the whole textbook ques- 
tion. Formerly a special committee appointed by 
the National Advisory Committee on Education 
passed on textbooks and the Government itself 
would give an order for as many thousands or 
hundreds of thousands of textbooks as were 



198 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

needed. Recently, however, various districts 
have been left to select their own textbooks. As 
much of the educational system is under the influ- 
ence of teachers who have been educated in the 
United States, they are now using a great many 
of the textbooks to which they became accustomed 
in their student life. The firm which has had the 
monopoly of business for a long time has become 
very much exercised over the fact that American 
textbooks are being brought in. It even presented 
a petition to the last Congress, in an endeavor to 
have the professors discharged because they had 
departed from the customary patronage of that 
house. No attention, however, was paid to the 
petition. When the firm was forced to carry cer- 
tain American textbooks, it charged about three 
times the legitimate price, so that an American 
book which was sold by the Mexican firm for $6.50 
(pesos) was afterward ordered in quantity and 
sold by the director of one of the schools to the 
pupils for $2.25 (pesos). There is a splendid oppor- 
tunity for the publishers of American textbooks, 
not only in Spanish but in English, to enter the 
market in Mexico at the present time. The 
Government does not have the funds to buy the 
books, generally, so it is a question of convincing 
the individual directors of schools of the servicea- 
bility of the textbooks. There is a great need for 
the opening of an American bookstore in Mexico, 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 199 

where our best English Hterature can be secured 
along with the books American firms are in- 
creasingly publishing in Spanish. Of course such a 
store should carry also a well-assorted stock of the 
best Spanish literature, published in Spain and in 
other parts of the Spanish-speaking world. 

Life in Mexico City, as in practically all the 
state capitals, was going along about as usual in 
the spring of 19 19. In some cities it is more lively, 
as the population has been swelled by additions 
from the country districts, made unsafe by the 
Revolution. Business is generally good. A large 
American printing supply house sold during a 
recent six weeks in Mexico City fifteen linotypes 
and eight large self-feeding presses. That is 
simply one illustration of the way that business is 
going along. 

Pavlowa, the dancer, was at about the same time 
having a run in the city. When the largest theater 
in the city proved too small for the crowd, she 
resorted to the bull ring! This great modern 
coliseum holds 20,000 people and in the old days 
was filled every Sunday afternoon with devotees of 
the ancient Spanish sport. But Carranza does not 
allow bull fights in the Federal District, though 
some states still have them, as the question is left 
to each state to decide. And so grand opera and 
other high-priced attractions take advantage of the 
great out-door auditorium and Mexico's magnifi- 



200 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

cent climate, and play to the biggest audiences. 
That people pay from one to five pesos apiece 
many times during the theater season to see high- 
class attractions is only one illustration of how 
business is proceeding in the capital. 

A fellow- visitor 1 reports the following typical 
replies to questions concerning the business out- 
look: 

"An American shopkeeper: 'I have done more 
business within the last two months than at any 
corresponding period of the last six years'. 

A Mexican official: 'Conditions are steadily im- 
proving, but I believe that you will find very little 
ostentatious display of wealth. The working peo- 
ple and the middle classes are better off, and there 
is more money in circulation than we have had in 
a long time. These mean that we are beginning 
to get results. Wealth is being more evenly dis- 
tributed and the contrasts between extreme luxury 
and dire poverty are less striking than in many 
years'. 

A Spanish hotel proprietor: 'We would be glad 
to give you a room and bath, especially if you ex- 
pect to be here for some time, but at present we are 
full up. A group of American visitors has engaged 
in advance every available room, and we can do 
nothing for you until they depart. It seems like 



1 L. J. du Bekker in the New York Tribune. 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 201 

old times to have so many tourists from the north'. 

A Canadian banker: 'Conditions are easier 
than they have been for some time. The return 
of prosperity involves the return of confidence, and 
I can not say that this is complete, but I think we 
all feel a sense of relief when we compare banking 
conditions today with those we have gone through'. 

An American importer: 'A complete under- 
standing with the United States is the one thing 
essential to the commercial and industrial develop- 
ment of Mexico. When that has been arrived at, 
you may expect a boom in all lines. Until then, we 
will do the best we can, but the uncertainty of the 
past has been a most serious drawback'." 

Living expenses are less in Mexico than In the 
United States. Meals at the best restaurants — 
and they are refined places, with music, excellent 
cooking, and variety — ^are from to two to five 
pesos. Accommodations in the best hotels are 
becoming difficult to secure on account of the in- 
creasing number of visitors to the city. A large 
number of automobiles have been recently im- 
ported, the Government having removed the duty 
for a limited time to encourage this, and the taxi 
service is so cheap that one is tempted to spend 
his time riding. There are generally twenty to 
thirty big seven-passenger cars at the stand in 
front of the new National Theater, and they can 
be had for three pesos an hour. This magnificent 



202 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

theater, one of the last extravagances planned by 
the Diaz administration, is beginning to receive 
attention by the Government and will be finished 
in a couple of years. It is of white marble in a 
beautiful setting at one end of the Alamenda Park, 
and will be beyond all question the most magni- 
ficent theater in the world. 

This unfinished theater and the various other 
uncompleted government buildings begun by 
Diaz remind one of the story of the special envoy 
from China, who, along with envoys from all the 
rest of the countries of the globe, came to pay 
tribute to Diaz at the centennial celebration. This 
celebration was the most magnificent and costly 
ever arranged on the American continent. It was 
only one month later, however, that the Revolution 
which overthrew Diaz broke out. The foreign 
visitors were practically all dazzled and profoundly 
impressed by the Diaz Government. The wise old 
Chinese, however, after being shown the many new 
buildings under construction, always with the 
explanation, "But you see it's not finished yet," 
was finally taken to see the President. "And 
what do you think of General Diaz?" he was asked. 
"He is the only thing I have seen in Mexico that is 
finished," he replied. If Diaz himself could only 
have realized that, and quit several years before, 
he might have gone down in history with the other 
greatest Americans — Bolivar, San Martin, Juarez, 



PRESENT SITUATION IN MEXICO 203 

Washington, and Lincoln. No one can today 
walk the streets of Mexico City — than which there 
is scarcely a more attractive city in the world, be- 
cause of its wonderful mixture of things romanti- 
cally historic and alluringly modem — ^without 
honoring, in spite of all his mistakes, that great 
man of iron who for practically thirty-six years 
gave Mexico peace and wonderful material pros- 
perity. 

Visitors to Mexico today will agree with the 
Chinese statesman that little he sees is finished. 
But he who studies closely will find that it is what 
the builder calls "the confusion of construction," 
the period when the materials are being unloaded, 
the foundations dug, and every man seems to be 
working independently of others. But presently 
the unified plan of the architect will take shape. 
The very confusion in Mexico today makes it a 
most interesting place to visit, and a still more in- 
teresting place in which to work, in the difficult 
task of erecting a building that will aid humanity, 
according to the plan which no doubt the great 
Architect of the nations has worked out for Mexico. 



CHAPTER VI 

FUTURE RELATIONS BETWEEN MEXICO 
AND THE UNITED STATES 

Let us now sum up certain considerations which 
seem to be clear: 

First : The Mexicans have not had a fair chance. 
They have been a dislocated, an exploited, a con- 
fused people, with scarcely any opportunity for 
education during the four centuries of their modern 
history. 

Second: There has recently been a real social 
revolution in Mexico, and there can be no turning 
back. It is idle to suppose that a "strong" man 
even if he were able to grasp the power, could 
repeat the experience of Diaz. Those days have 
gone never to return. 

Third: The young men of Mexico, many of 
them educated under American influences, are 
giving themselves to working out a new political 
and educational life for their country, and with 
neighborly help may be expected gradually to 
accomplish their task. 

Fourth : The great problem before the Mexican 
people is the development of character, and to the 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 205 

working out of this problem all of Mexico's friends 
are called to help. 

These considerations make it evident that the 
United States should not wish to become responsi- 
ble for the settlement of Mexico's difficulties. 
This is true not only because of the difficulty of 
our understanding the Mexican, but because it 
would be a larger job than we ought to undertake. 
The time for armed intervention has passed, if it 1 
has ever been. The excuse of the universal reign 
of chaos can not now be given. The expense in 
money and men would be tremendous. The World 
War has brought upon us responsibilities for many ■ 
parts of the world. It has also raised new problems \ 
in our own country, which are going to demand the 
most careful attention. If we ourselves are to 
escape a bloody social revolution, such as is 
sweeping over Europe at the present time, we 
must use all of our resources and wisdom in the 
solution of our problems. Our problems of race, 
of immigration, and of color, were never more 
acute than today. We insisted on an amendment 
to the Covenant of the League of Nations which 
would not require us to accept a mandatory 
without our consent. A mandatory for Armenia 
or some of the other small nations, which are en- 
tirely desirous of our help, would be as child's play 
compared to our forcing a mandatory on the 



206 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

15,000,000 Mexicans, who would unite as a man 
to oppose our intervention. 

Among other responsibilities, intervention would 
mean assuming the job of educating some 5,000,000 
Indians who have never even learned to speak the 
Spanish language, who live in the same savage 
state today as they did when Cortez first came to 
Mexico. Have we been so successful in dealing 
with our own small Indian population that we 
should desire to undertake this new problem, 
involving fifteen times as large a population? 
Have we been so successful in dealing with our own 
freed slaves, that we are ready to take on the 
responsibility for an almost equal number of Mexi- 
can peons, whose backwardness in many ways is 
much more marked than that of our own Negroes? 

Von Moltke used to say that he had worked out 
three different plans for the invasion of England by 
the German Army, but that he had never been able 
to contrive a plan for getting his army back home 
again. It would be very easy for us to resolve on 
armed intervention in Mexico, but no one yet has 
ever been able to estimate either the initial cost in 
men and money of subduing the country, or the 
years of effort, the billions of dollars, the continual 
misunderstandings, and all the other items in the 
price that would have to be paid for the final com- 
pletion of the job. For its completion would 
mean the honorable getting out of it, as well as the 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 207 

getting into it. And let no one who does not wish 
to display his ignorance cite the example of Cuba, 
for the cases are absolutely different. 

No, the American people do not want armed in- 
tervention. They have business of more impor- 
tance before them. 

Intervention in the affairs of another nation is, 
after all, a most delicate matter. The following 
words, which describe a very unsatisfactory at- 
tempt, might well come back to us in the future 
with overwhelming force. Leave out the names, 
and some years hence these words might fit the 
Mexican situation: 

"The alienation of the Revolution from the 
western democracies and the deplorable subse- 
quent blunder of military intervention were born 
of ignorance, presumption, and infirmity of pur- 
pose rather than of malevolence. The Revolution 
unloosed a conflict of social forces which foreign 
statesmanship, during its period of influence in the 
capital, proved itself incompetent to understand 
and control. Its policy was based on a misinter- 
pretation of the psychology of the people, the econ- 
omics and dynamics of the Revolution. The gov- 
ernments were represented in the country by men 
whose impoverished diplomatic training and nar- 
row class associations disqualified them as com- 
pletely as a French marquis of the eighteenth 
century was disqualified from discovering the 
motives and the realities of a massive popular 
movement. When they observed disquieting 



208 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

symptoms of war- weariness, moral exhaustion, and 
political wilfulness on the part of the active revo- 
lutionists, they traced it either to German intrigue 
or to a temporary lethargy or perversity of the 
popular will. They never even admitted that the 
Revolution possessed an impulse, a logic, and a 
right of its own. They could suggest only one 
remedy for every dangerous symptom of revolu- 
tionary independence — the remedy of coercion. 
They welcomed the reactionary adventure (in 
Mexico, Huerta), because a military dictatorship 
which would not scruple to purge the country of 
its radical agitators was to them the beginning and 
the end of political wisdom, and while they were 
counseling the use of coercion they did not know 
that the power of exercising coercion had passed 
from the princes, the generals, and the barons to 
councils of the common people. As convinced of 
Macht-Politiky they occupied the absurd position 
of seeking to force a whole people, without antici- 
pating the energy of their resistance." 

If the Mexican question can not be settled by 
armed intervention, neither can it be settled by 
diplomacy. The sooner we come to that realiza- 
tion the better. We might as well stop fooling 
ourselves with the fond hope that some morning 
we shall awaken to find the papers announcing 
that, by a shuffling of the political cards, the 
Mexican problem has been solved. It will never 
be solved by the signing of treaties, by the agree- 
ment of commissions on boundary questions, by 
the negotiations of loans and concessions, or by the 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 209 

triumph of this or that political leader, either in 
Mexico or the United States. This is a question 
not of stopping a fight, but of solving a problem. 
It is not a revolution to be crushed, but an evolu- 
tion to be guided. 

And the evolution involves far more than a 
purely economic and educational problem, if by 
these are meant only a proper distribution of the 
land and a teaching of the people to read and 
write. Above all else, it is a question of character. 
It will do little good to distribute lands to the 
people who have no ambition to work those lands, 
or who are not sufficiently trained to protect their 
rights and exercise their duties as citizens. It is 
very easy to say, Let us give every man a piece of 
land, but the next question is. What he is going to 
do with that land? Men who have never had any 
wants except that of enough food to keep body and 
soul together, and of enough clothes to hide their 
nakedness, who have no aspirations in life, who 
know nothing of developing a home, who have 
never used any furniture, who care nothing for a 
book, can not be expected to do a great deal with 
the things that are given to them. Of course, the 
real Indian has a native instinct for the land, and 
would probably use his little plot at any time that 
he had the opportunity, but it is very much to be 
doubted whether the millions of peons who have 
come into contact with modern life and partaken 



210 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

of modern vices, would be benefited by receiving a 
little plot of land, unless they were taught how to 
appreciate it. 

In saying that diplomacy can never solve 
Mexico's problems, I am not ignoring the fact that 
relations between the United States and Mexico 
must be cordial if much progress is ever to be 
made in those things which will really bring that 
solution, for Mexico must depend upon the 
United States to a large extent to furnish the 
munitions of war in her campaign against ignor- 
ance, superstition, and selfishness. The path of our 
diplomatic intercourse and of doing away with 
misunderstandings between the two countries 
seems to be clear. Now, as never before, Mexico 
is willing to accept our friendship. In the past, a 
spirit of ultra-nationalism and suspicion and mis- 
understanding has kept her from a willingness to 
do this. As has already been pointed out, how- 
ever, these things are passing rapidly. It seems to 
me, then, that our Government should back up the 
Carranza Government in a strong, consistent, con- 
tinuous way, aiding it in securing necessary funds 
for rehabilitation, for larger educational develop- 
ment, for the pursuit of bandits, and for strength- 
ening the general program which the Carranza 
Government has outlined for the great problem of 
reconstruction. It is not my purpose to go into an 
explanation of how this might be done. Our diplo- 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 211 

mats understand this, however, very well. For- 
tunately, the American Ambassador in Mexico at 
the present time is a man who thoroughly compre- 
hends the sensitive Latin-American character, 
and who is recognized by the Mexican people as 
sympathic toward their legitimate aspirations. 
Our Government has recognized that Carranza 
offers the best hope for the bringing about of order 
and peace in Mexico. Our Government should, 
therefore, throw its full strength and influence 
toward supporting him. We, as a strong nation, 
can well afford to forget some of his weaknesses and 
ultra-nationalistic tendencies in the past, and 
frankly develop a program that will strengthen his 
hands. 

If neither armed intervention nor diplomacy can 
permanently settle Mexico's problems, neither 
will education, the other remedy, most generally 
proposed, if by education is meant simply the 
elimination of illiteracy. The mere teaching of the 
people to read and write often has no more effect, 
as Sefior Pani has recently pointed out in his in- 
vestigation of primary education in Mexico, than 
to cause the lower classes to become dissatisfied 
with their lot.^ There are others who think that 
vocational education is the thing needed. Foreign 

^Alberto J. Pani, "Un Enciiesta sobre Educacion Popular.'* 
This is a most suggestive treatise on popular education, contain- 
ing the opinions of many leading Mexicans on the education of 
the masses. 



212 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

business men, who believe in the development of 
the natural resources of the country as the secret 
of solving her problems, are often, in connection 
with such development, willing to advance voca- 
tional training. Mr. Henry Ford has described in 
a recent number of El Norte Americano a most 
worthy effort to help the Mexicans by training 
their young men in his Detroit factory, in order to 
send them back to be foremen in the tractor fac- 
tories which he proposes to establish. He puts the 
matter in the following way : 

"The principal object in inviting the Mexican 
Government to send us a hundred young men of 
the different social classes who desired to educate 
themselves in our methods of work and ideals of 
life, was to give a practical effect to the promise of 
President Wilson, who offered the friendship of the 
American people to Mexico. Another object was 
to place the Mexicans in position to consider the 
Americans from a different viewpoint than that 
from which they have considered them heretofore, 
due to the fact that they have principally known 
them as exploiters. . . 

The Secretary of Agriculture for Mexico made 
the selection and demonstrated an admirable 
knowledge of the necessities of each class as also 
of each section of the country. The young men 
who have come to our factories represent all classes 
of Mexican society. They are employed at the 
regular rate of salary, the minimum of which is six 
dollars a day after three months* work. 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 213 

In the matter of intelligence they equal the 
average American workman and show a great de- 
sire to work, which is the principal thing. During 
the teaching they are passed through the various 
departments of the factory to familiarize them 
with all the operations that enter into the manu- 
facture of the machine. This gives them an ad- 
mirable preparation for the work which they will 
do on their return to Mexico. For the benefit of 
those who do not know English we have established 
educational classes in the shops, which impart not 
only a knowledge of the English language but also 
certain American ideals," 

Mr. Edward L. Doheny has recently contributed 
$100,000 to establish a foundation to investigate 
the educational needs of Mexico, which evidently 
looks to the development of vocational education 
among the Mexican people. 

This is all excellent, as far as it goes, but work- 
ing for foreign business concerns will help only a 
few and in a material way. Nothing could be more 
unfortunate than to turn the Latin from the one 
extreme of idealism to the other of a crass mate- 
rialism. 

Education in Mexico must, first of all, look to 
character. This means, of course, that it will be 
closely bound up with a man's power to make a 
living, but not this only. It must also be bound 
up with the matter of citizenship and with an 
emphasis on the relationship of all the great past 



V 



214 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

to the present, and of the whole world to each 
nation and to each individual. The provincialism 
of a people, their narrow outlook, their suspicion 
of the world, their egotism concerning their own 
accomplishments, their impatience at slow results, 
can be overcome only by teaching them the great 
evolutionary processes through which the world 
has struggled up from the past, and its present 
interrelated and progressive development. The 
moral emphasis must, more and m.ore, predominate 
in education. The words of Theodore Roosevelt 
to the Brazilians are most applicable to the 
Mexicans : 

"Character must ever outrank genius and intel- 
lect. The State can not prosper unless the average 
man can take care of himself; and neither can it 
prosper unless the average man realizes that, in 
addition to taking care of himself, he must work 
with his fellows with good sense and honesty, and a 
practical acknowledgment of obligation to the 
community as a whole for the things that are vital 
to the interests of the community as a whole." 

One of the great difficulties that the Carranza 
Government is experiencing at the present time in 
bringing about order is the fact that they do not 
have enough honest men to fill the responsible 
positions. Many times, when a general is entrusted 
with an expedition against a group of bandits, 
instead of pursuing the campaign, he wastes his 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 215 

time and resources in riotous living. It is very 
difficult to get a sufficient number of honest men to 
handle responsibilities. This is one thing that 
accounts for such a large number of young Pro- 
testants having been appointed to office in the 
Carranza Government. Having been educated by 
American teachers, they have had the matter of 
honesty drilled into them. One of these, a young 
officer, was appointed paymaster for one of the 
leading generals, who was going to Morelos to 
campaign against Zapata. After the young 
fellow had been there for some time he wanted to 
be sent to the front, but the general informed 
him that this would be impossible, for, since he was 
the only man he had ever found who carried his 
accounts absolutely straight, he must remain in 
the position. 

The new education in Mexico must not only 
seek that ideal combination of the cultural and the 
vocational which is one of the most pressing 
educational problems of our day, but must unite 
with genuine patriotism a passion for universal 
brotherhood. Individualism is recognized by all 
Latin psychologists as being the most outstanding 
characteristic of their people. It has been the rock 
on which the bark of democratic government has 
most often wrecked itself. As Jose Marmol in his 
celebrated "Amalia," which tells the story of the 



2i6 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Argentine Dictator, Rosas, has one of his charac- 
ters say : 

"A party is not powerful through numbers but 
through union. Let us study carefully the poli- 
tical system of Rosas and we shall find the secret 
of his power to be in the disassociation of the 
citizens — a, spirit of constitutional indolence, 
natural to the race, serves to complete the work 
of our moral disorganization and we meet, we 
talk, we agree today and tomorrow we separate, 
we betray each other, or at least we neglect to 
meet again. Without cooperation, without the 
spirit of cooperation, without the hope of being 
able to improvise that lever of European power 
and European progress called cooperation, on 
what can we count for the work we propose to 
accomplish?" 

To which the hero, with the young enthusiasm 
of hope, replies : "Yes, cooperation today to defend 
ourselves against Rosas ; cooperation tomorrow to 
organize the society of our country; cooperation in 
politics to give her liberty and law; cooperation in 
commerce, in industry, in literature, and in science 
to give her learning and progress; cooperation in 
religion to cultivate the morality and the virtues, 
which we lack. 

Would you have a country, would you have 
liberty, would you have free institutions? Unite 
against the enemy of our social reformation — 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 217 

ignorance; against the instigator of our savage 
passions — political fanaticism; against the propa- 
gator of our disunion, of our vices, of our raucorous 
passions, of our vain and stubborn spirit — ^religious 
skepticism !" 

As a part and parcel of this spirit of unity, which 
Mexican educators pointed out to me in recent in- 
vestigations as so necessary to inculcate, they 
emphasize also the spirit of service. Only those 
who have a real desire to serve the common good 
will be willing to sink individualistic desires for the 
accomplishment of a common purpose. Or in other 
words, only as one is willing to hang for a cause, 
will he be willing to hang together with others. 
Service, then, must be another strong emphasis in 
the educational program which will lead Mexico 
into the new life. 

The success of an experiment with which I am 
familiar, carried out along these lines, though on a 
small scale, demonstrates the readiness of the 
Mexican to respond to such educational oppor- 
tunities. Finding that, in the border town of 
Piedras Negras where I was living, there was no 
place for young men to assemble in the evenings, 
no school above the sixth grade, no literary socie- 
ties, lecture courses, public library, or anything 
in fact to develop the cultural side of the people, 
we decided to open a little reading room in the 
comer room of our residence. We did not know 



2i8 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

whether anyone would care at all to take advan- 
tage of the few papers that we were able to secure, 
but the first week the room was opened it was 
crowded by young men from the offices, stores, and 
banks. Only a very few days had passed before 
they began to ask for English classes, which were 
soon opened in another little room in the rear. 

Later, a debating club was organized at about 
the time that the semi-annual gambling fair was 
being held. At such times a gambling concern 
brought all kinds of paraphernalia to the city and 
placed these on the main plaza, and the whole city 
gave itself up to gambling, bull fights, and worse 
things, for some six weeks. We proposed a dis- 
cussion of the question as to whether or not these 
gambling fairs were good things for the city. After 
the objection that such discussion would mean a 
dangerous criticism of the Government was over- 
come, the debates were held and proved very 
lively. There had never been any question raised 
concerning the fair before. The argument was 
that it was bound to be a good thing because, even 
after all the graft that the government officials 
had secured, there was still left from the amount 
paid by the firms for the concessions about $10,000 
(pesos), which last year had been given toward the 
building of a new school. The debates aroused 
unusual interest. The little reading room was 
entirely too small. The young men said, 'We have 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 219 

never heard of such arguments as are being brought 
out here, against what we have considered estab- 
lished institutions. All of the people ought to hear 
these discussions. We must have a large hall, so 
that these important matters shall get to the ears 
of the public in general." 

The Superintendent of Public Instruction and 
the Director were asked to wait on the mfiiicipal 
president, to secure from him the municipal thea- 
ter. After a good deal of persuasion he gave his 
consent. 'Well, Sefior Presidente, if we are to have 
a large meeting in the theater, then you yourself 
should preside at these discussions of questions of 
community interest." Very well, he would pre- 
side. "Then, Sefior Presidente, if you are to pre- 
side, the occasion will be very important and we 
ought to have the municipal band." All right, we 
should have the band. As we were leaving the 
office, the Superintendent of Public Instruction 
suggested to me that we should have asked to have 
the prisoners go round and clean out the theater. 
So we returned and made that request. By this 
time he was so accustomed to grant what we asked 
that there was no difficulty whatever. On Sunday 
morning the municipal band paraded the streets in 
the same manner that they would have done to 
advertise a bull fight. Our little company of de- 
baters, along with the Presidente and about ten 
other of the most prominent citizens, met at the 



220 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

reading room and marched in a body to the thea- 
ter. The house was packed and for two hours and 
a half the young men presented to the pubhc the 
arguments against gambhng and vice. The pro- 
gram was so interesting that it was repeated the 
following Sunday and for several weeks afterward 
these conferencias morales were continued. One 
result was the appointment of a committee to wait 
on the Governor, and to request the prohibition of 
gambling concessions, a petition which was granted 
during the Governor's term of office. 

The movement grew to such an extent that it 
was necessary to erect a building for its activities. 
A prominent comer was secured through the kind- 
ness of a leading citizen, the Commercial Club and 
many individuals on both sides of the border con- 
tributed to the building fund, and the next year 
the building was dedicated as part of the official 
celebration of the Centennial in 1910. A procession 
was formed at the municipal palace, which con- 
sisted of a military band, an escort of soldiers, 
members of the City Council, the special delegate 
sent by the Governor of the state, and deputa- 
tions from the various mutual societies and labor 
organizations. On arriving at the Institute, the 
Director presented the key to the Mayor, who 
opened the building and dedicated it "to the ser- 
vice of humanity." 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 221 

A program was developed, consisting of lectures 
on all kinds of interesting topics, night classes, 
reading room, circulating library, outdoor gym- 
nasium, social meetings, and every activity that 
would seem to be helpful at this particular time 
in the life of the community. A little while after- 
ward, when the Madero Government came into 
power and Mexico was suddenly called to take 
part in the election of her own officials, the young 
men who had been trained in the debating clubs 
of the People's Institute were the ones who imme- 
diately came forward as leaders of the new political 
life. 

The following extract from an article in the 
Bulletin of the Pan-xAmerican Union describes 
further the work of the Institute: 

"The People's Institute is unique among Mexi- 
can institutions. It combines the work of the 
social settlement, the public library, the Charities 
Organization Society, the Society for the Preven- 
tion of Cruelty to Animals, and all the other benev- 
olent, educational, and reform organizations of the 
ordinary American city. The Institute has stood 
steadily for the community idea, by developing the 
individual into an efficient worker and wage- 
earner, and by translating the ideals of morality 
and good government into terms of practical good 
citizenship. Cruelty and barbarism are distressing 
and undesirable in the abstract; why not in the 
bull fight in one's own city? This turning of ab- 
stractions into practical morality of the now 



222 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

and here has been the great aim of the People's 
Institute. 

Thus far the active emphasis has been placed on 
the educational and civic points of view. The 
public schools of the average town stop with the 
sixth grade. Only state capitals have normal 
schools, which correspond to the American high 
schools. On the first four week nights the Insti- 
tute has classes in fifteen subjects, including 
Spanish and English shorthand, typewriting, 
arithmetic, geometry, English language, Spanish 
language, Spanish grammar, ethics, hygiene, and 
gymnasium. One hundred young men and women 
were enrolled in these classes in the last term. Dur- 
ing the public school vacations the school children 
have club meetings on Monday, Wednesday, and 
Friday afternoons, when lessons in sewing and 
music and games and readings are given. Each 
night, between classes, there is a public conference, 
at which current events, morals, philosophy, or 
history are briefly discussed. Friday evenings are 
given over to games or to a program, which may be 
musical or literary, or deal with some subject of 
popular interest. Many of the highest government 
officials, both state and national, educators, 
scientists, and travelers, have appeared on the 
Institute platform. Heated discussions are held 
by the Debating Club, which, like the Temperance 
Society and the Humane Society, is composed of 
and led by the young men and women of the city. 
The national holidays of both the United States 
and Mexico are always celebrated. One important 
work of the Institute has been to interpret the two 
nations on the Rio Grande to each other, and this 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 223 

is easiest when patriotism directs the thoughts 
and sentiments to the common love of heroes and 
of Hberty. 

One most encouraging fact the library records 
of the Institute have shown — namely, that the 
Mexican likes good literature. Books on .history, 
science, and philosophy are much more popular 
than fiction. Among the translations from English, 
Emerson and Spencer are seldom on the shelves, 
while popular fiction grows dusty from disuse. 
Translations of Emerson and Tolstoy are more in 
demand than Cervantes or the modern Spanish 
novelists. 

To encourage the men to stay at home evenings, 
the library has opened a circulating department, 
which loans games to families. . . 

The art of home-making, which is just beginning 
to be introduced into the public schools of the 
United States, must needs be taught the Mexican 
girl, as well as her Anglo-Saxon sister. Like her 
mother and great-grandmother, she is used to 
doing things for herself. The department store 
does not exist in Mexico to sell her what her 
ingenious and skilful fingers can make so sur- 
prisingly well. In fact, all she needs to be de- 
veloped into an ideal home-maker is the chance to 
see the better class Mexican and American home. 
Natural family affection she has to a marked 
degree; the power to make and imitate she owes 
to her Latin blood — she merely needs the inspira- 
tion of example, and the merest pittance of money 
to realize ambitions that will eventually make 
Mexico more a land of homes than her neighbor 
to the north has been since colonial days. 



224 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

Public baths, moving pictures, classes in domes- 
tic art and science, and a printing press, are soon 
to be installed. The press is the first actual ven- 
ture in industrial education, although geometry is 
taught to apprentices in boiler-making, with 
special regard to its application in that industry, 
the teacher being the head of the boiler-making 
department in the railroad shops. A very great 
need of Mexico is the development of skilled labor, 
and as each demand and need of the community 
presents itself, the People's Institute strives to 
meet it, for it is an institution of the community, 
for the community, and by the community." 

Perhaps the best test of the success of such an 
experiment is the appeal which it has made to 
individuals. For example, a prominent lawyer of 
Mexico City who was appointed Federal Judge, 
with headquarters at Piedras Negras, found him- 
self quite lonely in our modest, little city, after 
having moved in the best circles of the capital 
of the Republic. When invited to cooperate in 
the work of the People's Institute, he readily 
accepted and soon became so interested that he 
gave practically all his time outside of office hours 
to it, teaching a class in commercial law, giving 
lectures, and using the influence of his position to 
interest others in the work. 

Another gentleman, who is known widely in 
our country as well as in Mexico as one of the 
greatest living authorities on dry farming, Senor 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 225 

Zeferino Doniinguez, has given unstinted time to 
the People's Institute, delivering lectures, and hav- 
ing apparatus installed to demonstrate the proper 
selection of seed corn and other subjects which 
have interested greatly the agriculturists of the 
community. Seiior Dominguez believes that the 
Mexican problem is not a political but an economic 
and social one. He believes that the Mexican peo- 
ple will be quiet and industrious when they are 
given land to cultivate and shown how to do it 
in the right way, and he recognized in the People's 
Institute an organization that would go far in 
preparing the people for economic independence. 

More or less similar stories could be told of such 
men as Senor J. Kim Yuen, Chinese representative 
to settle the claims of his Government for the Tor- 
reon massacre ; Professor Andres Osuna, one of the 
leading educators of the country; and governors 
and ex-governors of the Federal District, Yucatan, 
Sonora, and Sinaloa. Such men as these have been 
interested in helping the Institute because they saw 
that it was aiding their own people in a practical 
way. This was evident not only in the changed 
lives of certain young men, but in the part which 
the Institute came to play in the life of the com- 
munity as a whole. 

On a certain February twenty-second, Washing- 
ton's Birthday, the political situation was dark 
indeed. It looked as if the whole country had 



226 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

turned against the Madero Government. A 
meeting was called at the Institute, to which 
were invited all the government officials and prom- 
inent citizens, and a part of Washington's farewell 
address was read, which we had translated for the 
occasion, and which seemed to have been written 
especially to advise the Mexicans in their national 
crisis. The necessity of standing by the consti- 
tuted Government, the cost of ignoring authority, 
the necessity of allowing time for reforms to be 
carried out, were emphasized. A committee was 
organized to conduct conferences in the theater on 
the same subject. In two weeks such meetings 
were being held all over the Republic, and the 
Government was saved, at least temporarily. Of 
course, that meeting did not do it all, but there is 
no doubt that it had its influence. 

On September i6, 191 1, when a mob raged up 
the principal street, stoning the houses of for- 
eigners, it passed the Institute without any demon- 
stration whatever and, returning to the monument 
in front of the property, listened to incendiary 
speeches, without even a reference to the foreigners 
who conducted the People's Institute. The Gov- 
ernor of the state, who came to the city the next 
day, said it was one of the most splendid tributes 
he ever saw paid to a work of like character. At a 
celebration of the anniversary of the enactment of 
the reform laws, a national holiday, all of the 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 227 

orators of the occasion were People's Institute 
men, and the night meeting, contrary to all cus- 
tom, was held at the Institute building, with the 
Mayor presiding. 

At the close of the Madero revolution, as already 
stated, the people were a good deal at a loss when 
they suddenly discovered that they were to elect 
their own officials, for the way to organize a 
political party and to carry on an election cam- 
paign was entirely foreign to their experience. 
We considered it a privilege, when they sought our 
help, to give it to them. In fact, we loaned them 
our auditorium for their meetings, and it was there 
that the reform mayor, who did so much for the 
city, was nominated. The statement was made by 
a high Mexican official that there was not a man 
who had taken part in the new political life in that 
part of Mexico who had not gotten his training in 
the debating society and night classes of the 
Institute. 

This experiment in a small way shows how the 
Mexicans would welcome a program of practical 
education linked up with nationalistic aspirations. 

Considerable interest in a school of higher learn- 
ing for Mexico, which would be financed by the 
friends of that country in the United States, was 
aroused a few years ago, by a committee headed 
by President Charles W. Dabney of the University 
of Cincinnati. The committee's activities were 



228 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

allowed to stop on account of the War, but the idea 
has been taken up again recently and has met with 
the warmest approval of prominent Mexicans, both 
educators and government officials. It is proposed 
that the managing board shall be an independent 
body composed of both Mexicans and Americans, 
with sections in the City of Mexico and in New 
York. The sum of $5,000,000 has been named as 
the amount that should be available for an ade- 
quate launching of the enterprise. It is not to 
duplicate any of the work done by the existing 
Government University or its allied schools, but 
to follow lines of practical instruction. 

During recent extended conference with Mexican 
educators as to the lines this school should pursue, 
the following words of Professor Ezequiel Chavez, 
one of the outstanding leaders, seemed to express 
the general idea: 

"Our whole national life has been one immense 
factory to manufacture the governing classes. 
The foreigners have controlled our commercial life, 
operated our mines, our railroads, our stores, our 
factories. The Mexican has not been willing to 
risk either capital or his own convenience in com- 
mercial enterprises. Since the foreigner has 
carried on all of our economic life, what is there 
left to the Mexican to do? Why, simply to 
govern. And so our schools have prepared men for 
governing. We need more and different kinds of 
training. Our people need to enter many other 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 229 

lines instead of being simply shut up, as in the past, 
to becoming physicians, lawyers, and engineers. 
Our educational system must change so that it can 
direct the young people into fifteen professions 
instead of into three, and into twenty or thirty 
different modes of gaining their living and con- 
tributing to society. . . The new school should 
turn itself to developing leaders in our economic 
and social life. I do not mean to make our educa- 
tion entirely practical, leaving out all of the 
humanities, as Germany has done. We must see 
that the school introduces young people into 
useful livelihood and trains them at the same time 
to be good citizens." 

Carrying out this Idea, it is proposed to have the 
institution begin in the City of Mexico, with a 
Normal Institute, and a Foundation School — 
using the term as It Is understood In Berea College 
— which will prepare students either for entrance 
into the Normal Institute or to become skilled 
operatives in various trades. The details of this 
plan are given in full in Appendix I. 

It Is impossible to estimate the good that such 
an Institution would accomplish In the establish- 
ment of a better understanding between the two 
neighboring peoples. From such a school would 
grow all kinds of movements that would contribute 
to the development of friendship. Commerce, 
labor, the fine arts, literature, social and moral 
movements, and other helpful forces In either 



230 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

country could find through it easy contact with 
kindred circles in the other. 

One matter that is evidently so far reaching that 
it should, by all means, be linked up with such an 
institution, is the exchange of students between 
the two countries. There is nothing that is more 
largely demanded or that offers a greater range of 
influence. 

It is as clear as a bell that we must spend some 
time and money in the development of such 
institutions as this, which will get down below the 
motives of commerce and politics on which we 
have depended for a hundred years, if the two 
peoples are to live not only peaceably, but agree- 
ably together as neighbors. 

In discussing the problem of relations between 
Mexico and the United States, and the place of 
education in the same, there remains yet an 
important force to consider. There is a large body 
of American teachers in Mexico, who are con- 
nected with schools, some of which have been 
conducted for half a century. Generally speaking, 
these teachers are the Americans who have been 
longest in the country, have most completely 
mastered the language and identified themselves 
with the people, and most thoroughly enjoy the 
confidence of the Mexicans. These teachers have 
largely been supported by American missionary 
societies, and so far from being thought of as 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 231 

exploiting the people, they have generally 
earned the reputation of rendering an unselfish 
service, without the aid of which the Mexican 
people would have fared a good deal worse than 
they have in educational matters. A large number 
of these schools have been for the training of 
teachers, and because of the large number of teach- 
ers which they have furnished the Government, 
the public school system has been able to grow 
at a much more rapid rate than that at which the 
system itself could produce teachers. The Govern- 
ment has practically always been ready to take 
every possible graduate these schools could turn 
over to it, and not infrequently it has subsidized 
the schools in order to speed up their production 
of teachers for the public service. 

This might appear strange to some who think 
that these schools are conducted for purposes of 
sectarian propaganda. That this Is distinctively 
not their purpose, but that they are carried on 
with a sincere desire to contribute to the real 
education of the Mexican people a development of 
character, a power of choice, and freedom of con- 
science, Is shown by their universal popularity, 
even among those of a different faith. 

The work of these American mission schools, 
which In the past the general public did not seem to 
regard as of much significance, has suddenly been 
shown to be one of the strong forces In the making 



232 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

of a new Mexico. Tried in the crucible of one of 
the most hotly contested civil disturbances ever 
known, the Mexicans educated in these schools 
and partaking of the principles there imparted 
have suddenly been thrust to the top of this 
seething national life and compelled to take 
positions of responsibility. They are found from 
one end of the Republic to the other, as governors 
of states, assistants to cabinet ministers, repre- 
sentatives of the Government in foreign coun- 
tries, legislators, directors of departments in 
national, state, and municipal education, mayors 
of cities, officers of the Army, not to mention the 
large number in more obscure but no less impor- 
tant places as individual teachers, both in the 
big centers and the small out-of-the-way hamlets. 
A most daring educational program, that in- 
cludes comprehensive plans, not only for a system 
of schools, but also for social, literary, and medical 
activities, has recently been worked out by this 
group of Americans. In 19 14, when the Revolu- 
tion had driven a large number of them to this 
country, a conference was held in Cincinnati to 
consider how the work could be enlarged and made 
more efficient, in order to render more immediate 
and widespread help to Mexico. Plans proposed 
at that conference were studied, tested, enlarged, 
and changed according to the best advice from the 
Mexicans themselves, until at a conference in 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 233 

Mexico City in February, 1 919, when both 
Americans and nationals spent several days to- 
gether, the results of these years of study were 
drawn up in a comprehensive program. 

When the survey of the whole situation was 
made, it was found that before any very much 
enlarged service could be given to the whole Mexi- 
can people, a more scientific arrangement of the 
work already in hand would have to take place. 
The survey showed, for example, that in one city 
of 35,000 there were three large normal schools, 
supported by as many separate American socie- 
ties, with some eight American resident workers, 
whereas in another whole state with a population of 
1,000,000, there was not a single American worker. 

A radical readjustment was therefore agreed 
upon, so that each one of the eight societies in- 
volved would become responsible for a certain 
distinct territory. This involved the uprooting 
of long-established ties, turning over work to 
others, and in two cases the abandonment of all 
the territory formerly occupied and the taking up 
of work in an entirely new field. But, for the sake 
of the general good, in order that no part of the 
country might be neglected, the readjustments, 
though with many a heartache, have now been 
made. Each society knows for just how much 
territory, how many people, and what towns it is 
responsible. 



234 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

With this fundamental basis which will eliminate 
all duplication, the following program for schools 
has been outlined: 

Eight agricultural schools are to be opened in 
as many different parts of the Republic, so that 
the problems of the various conditions — highland, 
lowland, arid, and tropical — can be worked upon. 
For the industrial worker in communities, a series 
of trade schools is to be established in every state 
capital and in certain other large industrial cen- 
ters. These trade schools are designed, not to 
teach the students foreign trades, but to help 
them to develop more highly and efficiently the 
arts of the local community. No one who has 
gone through Mexico with open eyes, even as a 
tourist, can have helped noting how extensively 
different communities have developed their spe- 
cialties, Saltillo scrapes, Aguascalientes drawn 
work, Cuernavaca pottery, Pueblo vases, and the 
like. Each Indian tribe also has its specialty in 
which it excels and generally makes with remarka- 
ble skill. Both the agricultural schools and the 
trade schools are to be netamente nacional — 
entirely national. The agricultural schools located 
among the Indians will give themselves not only 
to working on the land problem, but to manual 
training and preparation of rural teachers. 

These American teachers, who have lived in 
Mexico long enough to become thoroughly adapted 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 235 

to the life of the people, are desirous of contributing 
their part toward working out in practice the 
theories of cultural development which Sr. Manuel 
Gamio, Director of Ethnology in the Department 
of the Interior of the Mexican Government, has 
recently outlined in his book, "Forjando P atria" 
If space permitted it would be desirable to quote 
extensively from this admirable treatise, but I will 
only cite two passages: 

'We propose concretely: 

1. That an attempt be made to crush out or 
diminish the ridiculous exotic tendencies which 
make us unconditionally prefer industry of foreign 
character and disdain our own. 

2. To encourage first of all the production of our 
typical industry, to the end that not only its con- 
sumption in the country may be increased, but the 
demand which has always existed for it outside 
may be supplied and augmented. 

3. To apply the technical methods of the for- 
eign industries to the similar typical industries and 
sensibly to bring about the fusion of the two, as 
was done spontaneously and so brilliantly during 
the colonial period. 

4. To send our workers to foreign industrial 
centers, that they may incorporate foreign experi- 
ence with their traditional industrial aptitudes. 

5. To establish in foreign countries expositions 
of Mexican typical products and in Mexico exposi- 
tions of new foreign industries unknown to us."^ 

2 Page 262. 



236 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

And again: "It is an error to expect that the 
same law shall apply to the Lacandon of Chiapas, 
who goes naked and lives by hunting and fishing 
in a wild tropical district, where no other idea of 
the nation is held than that constituted by his 
mountains, his women, and his children; to the 
frontiersman of the north, into whom have filtered 
and percolated the language, the idiom, the 
industry, the aptitudes of the American; to the 
inhabitant of the high tablelands, conservator of 
the traditions, the customs, and the religion of the 
past; to the dweller in the seaport, liberal and 
innovator; to the frontiersman of the south, 
whose culture is more Central American than 
Mexican; to the Indian in general, helpless and 
illiterate, who speaks a diversity of idioms, lives in 
unlike climates and differs in customs ; to the man 
of culture, active, progressive in tendencies; to 
the individual of aristocratic lineage who has been 
educated (?) abroad and who, when he returns 
to his native hearth, displays a really repulsive 
hybridism in customs and ideas. 

From this contest, there is born what may be 
called 'cultural cleavage'; a great part of this 
middle class, which feels more the environment in 
which it has developed and the historical antece- 
dents which brought it near the native class, 
adopted an intermediate culture, which is neither 
the native nor the western. We cite some mani- 
festations of this culture : the popular music, which 
Ponce in most noble effort exerted himself to make 
known, is not native music, nor is it European; 
it is something intermediate, the technique, the 
mechanical part, of which is occidental, but which 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 237 

in character and sentiment strongly arouse the 
native soul. Our sculptors, who in Guadalajara, 
in Mexico, and in other places make little figures 
of clay and wax or typically decorated vases, are 
the true national sculptors, however much the 
public may, foolishly, consider this work as mere 
curious rubbish. The decorative designs which 
are used in the lacquer industry, pottery, textile 
fabrics, and a thousand other things, are the 
legitimate Mexican decorations; they were in- 
spired by our sky, by our soil, by our plants, by 
our animals, even by the ancient polytheistic 
religious conceptions of the pre-Hispanic Indians. 
As much might be said of the literature, the archi- 
tecture, and even of the very special character 
which religious ideas show in this class. The 
'intermediate culture' originated immediately after 
the conquest, it being necessary, in order to under- 
stand perfectly what is here said, to examine among 
other manifestations the transitional artistic work 
of the sixteenth century. This 'intermediate cul- 
ture', like that of the native class, has developed 
without principles, method, or facilities; it is 
natural that it presents frequent deficiencies and 
even deformities, like everything that has to 
flourish, conquering obstacles. It is, nevertheless, 
the national culture, that of the future, that which 
"will end by imposing itself when the population, 
being ethnically homogeneous, feels and under- 
stands it. It should not be forgotten that it is the 
resultant of the European and the modified native, 
or pre-Hispanic." ^ 

» Page 175. 



238 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

It will be one of the main purposes of these 
agricultural and trade schools to work out this 
problem of the blending of different cultures, in 
order to bring the Mexican into a place of high 
usefulness as a citizen of his own country and the 
world at large. 

The second division of the educational program 
has to do with strengthening the already extensive 
work of the normal schools. Several new normal 
schools are to be built in districts which now have 
none, and the training of men teachers is to be 
provided for, since heretofore almost all these 
schools were for women only. 

All of this school work is to be coordinated under 
one organization, with headquarters in Mexico 
City, and an outstanding Mexican educator, now 
occupying a prominent place in government edu- 
cation, has been called as the secretary of the 
organization. This is still another of the provi- 
sions, which are being made at every step in these 
enlarged plans, to make sure that all shall be 
absolutely national and in no sense an exotic plant. 

The third division of the program is social. It 
has not escaped the observation of these Ameri- 
cans that the Mexican people in their efforts to 
develop a democracy have no way of getting to- 
gether under pleasant auspices to discuss their 
problems. How much the United States owes to 
the town meetings, the chatauquas, the public 



FUTURE RELATIONS Vv^ITH MEXICO 239 

library extension work, the public debates, the 
forums, and the many civic associations, with 
and without buildings, whose business it is to 
foster discussion of public questions and to en- 
courage organization for community improve- 
ment! So it is intended to organize in each town 
of importance a community center. This will 
not only be a rallying point for all who are inter- 
ested in the country's development, but through 
night classes, circulating library, gymnasium, and 
other agencies it will especially contribute to the 
education of adults. 

The fourth part of the program has to do with 
the popularizing of medical knowledge and sani- 
tation among the poorer classes. This will be 
done by Mexican physicians, who have already 
worked on this program as much as their limited 
means would permit, through labor organizations, 
schools, and industrial plants. It is hoped also to 
erect a certain number of hospitals where these are 
most needed. 

The fifth division refers to the production of 
good literature. The union of the various printing 
establishments already conducted by these organi- 
zations in different parts of the Republic has been 
consummated, and a publishing house and book- 
store, with a weekly periodical, have been started 
in the City of Mexico. It is hoped to produce good 
literature, school textbooks, popular stories, and 



240 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

other books that will help to relieve the situation 
spoken of by Sr. Gamio, who says : 

'When on account of lack of books, more ad- 
vanced reading than the primer and first reader is 
not possible, the knowledge of reading appears idle 
and unproductive. Nevertheless, for the majority 
of those who learn how to read there remains no 
other resource, because there are few^ who can 
secure a more extensive education or even have 
the opportunity of obtaining printed matter of any 
sort. To what is this fact due, which directly and 
indirectly contributes to maintain illiteracy? It is 
that in Mexico the pamphlet, the book, and publi- 
cations generally, have always been costly and for 
that reason not adequate to the diversity of stan- 
dards of the population. Provision has been made, 
though insufficiently, for the intellectual 'elite', 
who can pay for wh^t they read, and for the city 
youth by supplying them with schoolbooks. But 
is not the rest of the population, the great mass 
which longs to gather knowledge through reading, 
worth attention?" 

Such a program as this may not appear to some 
to be at all commensurate with the largeness of the 
problem involved, yet history teaches us that even 
from small beginnings, the right kind of move- 
ments develop rapidly until their influence is soon 
felt in every part of national life. If this program 
were faithfully carried out with enthusiasm, 
efficiency, and a free pouring out of life and wealth, 
the results would be very quickly seen — probably 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 241 

a good deal more quickly than the results of armed 
intervention. If some thrifty individual who has 
been taught by our War Savings Stamp Campaign 
to count the pennies, thinks that this program in- 
volves too much of a financial expenditure, let him 
meditate on the following: The United States 
Government spent enough on guarding the border 
and the Pershing expedition into Mexico, during 
the year of the Columbus raid, to build in every 
town in Mexico of more than 4,000 people, a col- 
lege, a community center, a hospital, and a church, 
and to equip them magnificently, and there would 
be left over a sufficient amount to endow the public 
school system of each of these towns with some 
$700,000. There would still be left a tidy little 
sum of $15,000,000 for other parts of the program 
of education and the production of good litera- 
ture. 

Our Mexican neighbors, if we will fully recognize 
their own national life and their peculiar culture, 
will be only too glad to accept the help of a friendly 
neighbor, and America is big enough to undertake 
this help in a really big way. As President Butler 
says: 

"One of the earliest questions recorded in history 
is the petulant query of Cain, 'Am I my brother's 
keeper?' On the answer to this question all 
civilization depends. If a man is not his brother's 



242 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

keeper, if he may slay and rob and ravage at will 
for his own advantage, whether that be personal 
or national, then civilization becomes quite impos- 
sible. We are our brothers' keepers and they are 
ours. . . There remains the matter of what 
may be called petulant and teasing criticism, on 
the platform and in the press, of acts and policies of 
nations other than our own. A good many nations 
and peoples, have, in the history of the world, 
assumed for themselves an attitude of superiority 
toward their fellows, and have shaped their beliefs 
and practices accordingly. It will not be generally 
thought, I fancy, that the historic results of this 
course of conduct has been either fortunate or 
happy. . . The United States has done so 
much to educate world opinion in the past century 
and a half that we may well be anxious for it to do 
still more. . . The great movement in which 
we are engaged is a part and parcel of a new way 
of life. It means that we must enter with fulness 
of appreciation into the activities and interests of 
peoples other than ourselves; that we must emu- 
late the best they have and shun the worst; that 
we must answer in no uncertain tones that we are 
our brothers' keepers ; and that the path of justice, 
of integrity and fair dealings, as with men so with 
nations, is the true path of honor. Let us see to it 
that we Americans tread steadily in it." 

We have just completed a great job across the 
waters. Our soldiers are coming back home. We 
are ready to turn our attention to something else 
still larger. We are searching for that elusive, but 



FUTURE RELATIONS WITH MEXICO 243 

tremendously important, thing called "the moral 
equivalent of war." Here is the finest opportunity 
ever presented to the American people. It is right 
at our door. What, then, are we going to do about 
Mexico? 



APPENDIX I 

Proposed Plan for a University to Be Established in Mexico 
(See page 227) 

Training in the Foundation School 

This school is designed to give students the fundamental 
courses as at present offered in the regular Mexican schools, 
but presented in a more practical fashion. It may be advisable 
to restrict the privileges of this school to students above fifteen 
and give them only such work in the fundamentals as they 
actually need. Perhaps the general standard for admission to 
this school should be the completion of the four years of the 
ordinary elementary primary course. In some cases students 
will not have this equipment and it should be given them in 
night courses while they pursue some definite manual work 
during the day. Perhaps the work of the two years of superior 
primary instruction might be carried on partly in the daytime, 
but the bulk of book instruction in the Foundation School, as 
in Berea College and Hampton Institute, should be at night, 
with the days given to manual work for which credit or com- 
pensation is given. All must do some work through all grades 
of the school — more in the lower grades. 

Class Work 

Fundamentals in language Credit should be given to 

work, number work, his- students for such work as 

tory, geography, civics, na- they have done in the pub- 

ture study, physiology, ele- lie schools. Special pains 

mentary agriculture, with shoQld be taken to make 

moral instruction, music, this work of a practical 

drawing, and other forms of character and to show its 

simple artistic expression. application to life. 



APPENDIX 245 

Manual Work 

1. Regular daily work shops or on farms, commer- 
for boys and girls in the cial establishments or homes, 
shops, farms, and dormitor- under supervision of school 
ies connected with the authorities. Dormitory fa- 
school. Products to be used cilities provided in school 
in institution or sold, and with payment by pupil 
credit given for work done. from proceeds of work. Es- 

2. Working for wages sential cooperation between 
under direction in outside school and working plants. 

Most students who take this work will pass directly into 
industry, agriculture, or home work, but with definite training 
in some trade or occupation and an enlarged mental and moral 
outlook. Those who have the aptitude may pass immediately 
to the Normal Institute. To this others who have the requis- 
ite preparation may also be admitted. The Foundation School 
will have no fixed time limit, but deficient students may be 
separated from the others whenever it is deemed advisable. 
In time this work in the Foundation School may be given in 
regional schtools and dropped at the central institution. 

Training in the Normal Institute 

The general purpose of the Institute is to train teachers for 
vocational work and to prepare skilfed foremen and superin- 
tendents for shops and farms and social workers for the cities. 
The course should presuppose the ordinary work of the six 
years of primary instruction. If the student knows some 
trade, either from his work in the Foundation School or else- 
where, he might devote relatively more time to the cultural 
and vocational courses, but he should not be excused from all 
manual tasks. Because of the variation in time to be devoted 
to manual tasks, there should be no definite time limit for this 
course. It should be at least four years and might run to six 
or seven. 

I. Cultural Courses (Few required— election according to pro- 
posed occupation.) 

I. Language: Literature Group — Composition, Litera- 
ture, English, French (?). 



246 INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 

2. Mathematics: Advanced Arithmetic, Algebra, GeomS' 
try with practical applications. 

3. Science Group: General Science, Descriptive and 
Physical Geography, and one year in one or two of the fol- 
lowing: Botany, Zoology, Geology, Physics, and Chemis- 
try (the sciences to be differentiated according to trade 

pursued.) 

4. History: Social Group, National History, European 
History, Civics, Economics, Survey of Human Progress 
and Relationships. 

There should be some required work in each group with a 
choice of elections according to occupation preferred. 

II. Vocational Courses (To be determined by proposed occu- 

pation.) 

1. Commercial: Bookkeeping, Stenography and Type- 
writing, Commercial Geography, Business Methods, 
Business Law, Commercial Arithmetic, Penmanship. 

2. Mechanical: Mechanical Drawing, Elementary Me- 
chanics, Industrial Chemistry, Applied Physics. 

3. Agricultural: Applied Mathematics (?) Soils and 
Crops, Horticulture, Animal Husbandry, Farm Mechan- 
ics and Management. 

4. Household Arts: Clothing and Textiles, Foods and 
Nutrition, Home Arts, Nursing and Sanitation. 

5. Community Service: Social Grouping, Public and 
Private Charities, Social Legislation. 

Psychology, methods, and practice teaching should accom- 
pany the vocational courses. 

III. Manual Work (In institution or outside on cooperative 

plan; amount to be lessened if student has already 
partly acquired standard training in given occupation. 
Psychology and methods should be considered along 
with this work.) 

The following are some of the trades to be pursued in the 
Foundation School and in the Normal Institute: Bricklaying, 
Carpentry, Wheelwrighting, Masonry, Plumbing, Forging, 
and Blacksmithing. The object in the Foundation School 
should be the training of skilled workmen; in the Normal 
Institute the training of industrial and agricultural teachers or 



APPENDIX 247 

shop foremen or superintendents. The Normal Institute 
should be the central plant of the institution, with such pre- 
liminary work in the Foundation School as is necessary to 
prepare the students for the Institute and such subsequent 
development of other facilities as circumstances may require. 

Every one in the Normal Institute will be required, besides 
studying, to do practical work with his hand and his brains. 
Not only will there be practice schools where those studying to 
be teachers will be tried out under faculty supervision, but 
there will be social service carried on in the city under the 
direction of the faculty, training for leadership in such com- 
munity work as clubs for boys and girls, public playgrounds, 
administration of charity, application of principles of sanita- 
tion, development of the use of public libraries, and the other 
problems which are recognized as a part of the modern city. 
The people of Mexico City are already awakening to these 
things, as is shown, for example, by such movements as the 
formation of a home for newsboys by public-spirited citizens. 
But trained leadership is lacking. 

From such a department in the Normal Institute, there 
would naturally develop later on a full school of philanthropy 
and social sciences, which would train leaders for all kinds of 
community service, and maintain a bureau of social survey to 
furnish practical guidance to organization and even, if so 
desired, scientific data to the Government for purposes of leg- 
islative and executive action. In the same way, the study of 
commercial courses, worked out in practical cooperation with 
the business houses of the city, would grow into a school of 
business and finance, where the men would be trained for 
dealing with the complicated questions of modern finance, and 
where a department of research would be maintained to study 
questions that might be referred to it. And so on throughout 
the courses of the Normal Institute: As each department 
grew it would develop a special school — gardening into agri- 
culture, manual arts into engineering, and courses in sanita- 
tion and nursing into a medical school, if such should seem 
desirable. The idea in the development of all these schools 
should be to do work that would not duplicate that already 
being done, and that would never force but would follow 
natural lines of growth as needs, circumstances, and national 
growth indicate. 



248 



INTERVENTION IN MEXICO 



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